Court of Appeal self-correction: A weakness in the system

If the High Court can, through judicial review, invalidate earlier decisions of itself and lower courts where they are found to have been made in a procedurally improper way, and if the House of Lords can do the same thing in respect of its decisions, who has jurisdiction to review the Court of Appeal? If the answer is, as some might say, "no court can review the procedural work of the Court of Appeal" is that fair? This article gives a critical analysis and opinion on that question

Manslaughter and Negligence

About 1000 people die every year in Britain because of mistakes made by surgeons. At what degree of negligence should professional conduct resulting in death become criminal? The question has a particular significance for medical and dental practitioners. This article gives a critical examination of law and practice

Judging the educators: The forensic evaluation of academic judgment

There has recently been a significant spate of cases of educational institutions being sued by dissatisfied students. For decades there was an established arena of professional negligence litigation into which physicians and even lawyers were dragged as defendants (and sometimes ruined), but where, hitherto, teachers and lecturers have hardly ever been summoned. Increasingly, academic judgment is becoming a justiciable issue. Additionally, lawyers are being increasingly brought into the educational arena's domestic hearings. This article gives a critical analysis of the emerging litigational phenomenon

Criminal evidence: the backwards story with a future

This article examines the ways in which the legal system tries to expose lies that are told to the police or in court

Corporate Punishment

This article critically examines the new guidelines on how to punish corporations for manslaughter. It is a widely shared principle that the worse the crime, the worse should be the punishment.In general, a serious crime entails a serious sentence. In light of the principle that the worse the crime, the worse the punishment, one might expect that unlawfully killing people would be among the most seriously punished offences. It certainly is where individuals commit murder or manslaughter, but where a corporation is found guilty of manslaughter it is now not certain that the culprit would, under a new sentencing guideline, receive an appropriately serious sentence

Clarity and the criminal law

In 1873, Baron Martin stated that 'The criminal law ought to be reasonable and intelligible' (R v Middleton (1873) L.R. 2 Crown Ca. Res. 57). That proposition is just as potent today as when it was made. As the branch of law incorporating the ultimate powers of control which the state exercises over citizens, criminal law should be consonant with common sense and be perfectly clear to the public. It is difficult to argue that current law on drugs is clear, coherent, and understood by the public

The suit that does not really fit

This article examines the circumstances in which the civil law has been used by citizens who are dissatisfied with the way that an alleged wrongdoer has been allowed to escape proper conviction by the criminal law

The legality of assaulting ideas

The most significant thing about anyone's beliefs is that they are just that: beliefs. We inhabit a society comprised of a considerable palate of supposed fundamental truths, many of which are oppositional. Society is organic. It is not inert. It develops, and the best way for it to develop smoothly and peaceably is for all ideas to be subject to rigorous public debate. No set of ideas should enjoy legal prtection from criticism

The changing contours of the criminal law

The criminal law is sometimes accused of being applied disproportionately against the weaker and poorer elements of society. It is true that what seem to be large-scale offences are often unprosecuted. If a crime is big enough it can cease to be seen as a crime. Thus, in an old proverb, if you steal a chicken you become despised as a chicken thief whereas if you steal a Kingdom you become a King. The idea is also reflected in the observation of Honoré de Balzac that 'Laws are spider webs through which big flies pass and the little ones get caught' (La Maison Nucingen, 1838). The largest scale crimes can be committed by agencies of government. There is an argument for criminalising some sorts of organisational omission to act that result in death

Pay-as-you-go street justice

Justice is not traduced by the 'instant-solution' of penalty notices for disorder solely in terms of guilty people getting a soft sanction; it is also traduced because it is likely that a proportion of innocent people caught in unfortunate circumstances are persuaded to accept a penalty notice or caution as a better risk than going to court and exposing themselves to a full hearing. There is a significant risk that suspects will feel pressured to accept a caution (and necessarily admit guilt) unaware that this will remain on their record