Why we should listen to the Law Lords

Do read Lord LLoyd of Berwick who writes at the Spectator over the Lord Lords recent ruling on evidence given by anonomyous witnesses.

There was a lot of knee jerk reaction to the ruling and the collapse of the trial last week and the government has predictably rushed into drafting new legislation to uphold the giving of anonomyous evidence

This is not the best way to legislate, as we have learnt from much recent experience.

says Lord Berwick adding

Can he have forgotten the 30 years of terrorism in Northern Ireland where witness intimidation was always a very real problem? It was suggested from time to time during those years that witnesses might give evidence from behind a screen. This was the ‘pragmatic’ solution to the problem. But it was always rejected as being inconsistent with a fundamental principle of the common law.

This is the real issue and not wishing to sound like David Davis,the fundemental principles of common law should not be tampered with.A defendent must be ablre to face his accuser and as the Lord Lords said

By a series of small steps, largely unobjectionable on their own facts, the courts have arrived at a position which is irreconcilable with long-standing principle.’