21 DECEMBER 1945, Page 4

Instructed controversy about the Joyce case will not end with

the House of Lords' decision. The question already being canvassed with some vigour in legal circles is whether the four (the Lord Chancellor, Lords Macmillan, Wright and Simonds) or the one (Lord Porter) were right. Some of the highest authorities predicted from the first that there would not be a conviction. There has been, but the fact that Joyce was at no time of his life a British citizen weighs heavily with many who, while satisfied that on the broad merits of the case justice is being done, yet hold that technically the verdict is questionable. But views on that may be changed when the Law Lords have given their reasons for their findings.

JANUS.