5 JULY 1957, Page 19

JUSTICE, very sensibly, have avoided the difficulty of defining the

rights of an individual : it intends to deal with each situation as it develops and make each decision on the merits. For instance, there could be no possible doubt that the recent establishment of the People's Chamber in Hun- gary, with its overriding power to re-try cases and increase sentences, offends the principles of every British lawyer; and JUSTICE has already been asked by the all-party concilation committee to advise on allegations of brutality in Cyprus. When it turns its attention to home affairs there is more than phone-tapping to be investigated. One mat- ter which I hope will receive consideration is the present law of Contempt, which has almost every- thing wrong with it.