Lord Hailsham and justice
Sir: Lord Hailsham's review of Just How Just (February 15) does justice neither to himself, the book nor the case for reform which David Lewis and I outlined. He concedes that some of his criticisms are trivial; many are also inaccurate or misleading: 1) We do make the point that delays in trying Defendants in custody have been considerably reduced. We do not suggest that "twelve months can now be regarded as a common period." We actually say that it is "quite common" for Defendants to wait six months, and this is true.
2) We do not say that only material consideration in the grant of bail is whether a Defendant will appear at his trial. We actually set out all the statutory objections to bail and others commonly advanced by police. 3) Lord Hailsham maintains that legal aid is in practice available for applica-, tions for bail to a Judge in Chambers.
4) We do not "ask for substantially increased powers of review in the Court of Appeal on (jury verdicts) matters of fact." We suggest that it should make wider use of its,existing powers and that the power to order a re-trial be extended.
5) Lord Hailsham denies that he expressed fierce opposition to the appointment of Solicitors as part-time Judges to the Crown Court Bench, and says that he was part author of the present arrangements. Yet when in 1970 he introduced the Courts Bill he omitted the suggestion of the Beeching Commission that Solicitors should be eligible
for such appointment, and defended his decision on the grounds that a) suitable candidates would not accept appointments because they were earning too much money and b) Solicitors lacked the necessary experience as advocates. It was only after these arguments had been widely criticised that he introduced an amendment to the Bill.
I am surprised that Lord Hailsham was not more concerned to deal with the faults in the existing system, and the, remedies that we suggest. To attack reformers may divert attention from the need to reform, but it is no contribution to the real debate.
Peter Hughman Co-author of Just How Just, 22 Queen Anne Street, London WI
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