I CRITICISED the Lord Chief Justice recently for some of
his pronouncements in Canada; and subsequently he made other speeches there which were even more ill-advised—including one which suggested that 'exemplary' sentences are occa- sionally useful. They are not : they are always unfair. But his comments this week on the prob- lem of how to decide when costs are to be awarded to acquitted persons are very sensible. Senior judges are apt to view such problems from the legal angle, and to frame their verdicts in such a way that the lower courts will have a definite directive. Lord Parker quietly resisted this tempta- tion, and insisted that the courts' discretion over costs 'is completely unfettered; there is no pre- sumption one way or the other as to the manner of its exercise . . . each case must be considered on its own facts.' It would clearly be absurd if everybody who was charged and acquitted could automatically claim costs against the State : but equally clearly, anybody who is wrongfully charged (even though by mistake) ought to have his costs refunded where the prosecution can be shown to be at fault.
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