UK Law Articles
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The Times
October 24 2000
The Human Rights Act
Raising the benchmark
Frances Gibb
JPs
have been learning to cope with the Human Rights Act
The Act has meant a massive training exercise for the 30,000 JPs in England and Wales at the forefront of this revolution in dispensing justice. Across the country, training is under way in one more step towards "professionalising" the magistracy.
One such training day took place recently at the magistrates' court at Kingston upon Thames. It was a Saturday: JPs assembled - tweeds, some ties, suits, but also jeans and bomber jackets, in the wood-panelled courtrooms that date from the 1920s - a different era, when magistrates meted out justice from a high bench and their authority was never questioned.
Armed with a pack of written materials, including an audio-cassette from the Judicial Studies Board, it was now time to try to put the principles into practice. Andrew Vickers, their senior clerk, reminded them with the help of flow charts and a white board that they have an important new role "appraising Acts of Parliament".
JPs must try to interpret legislation so that it is consistent with the new Human Rights Act. But if they cannot do so, they have power to declare a piece of legislation "incompatible" - though this is expected to be the exception rather than the rule. Nonetheless, Vickers told them, the new Act is a "living instrument". They were required to be proactive, not just to sit back and see if human rights points were raised. They are in the arena, not above it.
The way JPs run their courts is also likely to come under scrutiny. When they retire to discuss the case, the clerk can no longer pop in for a quiet word. His legal advice must be given in open court. And what if they do not follow it, one asked? "You can write your own appeal notes," said Vickers.
The JPs did a test to ensure that they knew the Act's principles and then split into groups for case studies. In one, neighbours had fallen out over an overhanging tree. Police were called to deal with a disturbance. Both appeared in court unrepresented. The CPS proposed that they be bound over to keep the peace and to be of good behaviour to one another.
The latter, JPs decided, could not now be safely imposed because "good behaviour" was too loosely defined. In another case, a search warrant was sought in the middle of the night by police. Now the JP must write down why he or she issued it. Another problem was raised: what about stipendiaries, or magistrates sitting regularly in youth courts, who would see regular offenders? They could now be challenged as not impartial because they would know the offender's history.
Dr Alan Vincent, chairman of the bench, said he did not think the Act would lead to more adjournments because cases arrived well-prepared. Inevitably, he admitted, there was some apprehension; and some JPs had decided they did not wish to chair benches. But the training was good and JPs were up to the task. "We're always concerned about new legislation because we want to provide a decent job to the community," he said.
