Trial by Press
The Press Council thinks that newspapers needn't have published all the delicious details of the Ward Case. Maybe not, hum, but this case, like many others, immediately provokes any Scotsman to our old crusade for Scots law against English law. In England, an accused per- son appears at a preliminary hearing in which the Crown gives away the whole works—as the Crown sees the works. This one-sided stuff is published and has been absorbed by judge, jury, witnesses and everybody by the time the wretch comes to trial. In Scotland, the accused appears in a lower court and is charged. That's all. No evidence is led, no plea is taken, no character- assassination is permitted. When he appears later for trial, away we go, zowie, into the evidence —no harangues, no fireworks, the evidence and nothing but the evidence, and the jury is hearing it for the very first time. I do not believe that everything Scottish is superior to everything Eng- lish, but it sticks out ten miles that in the pursuit of justice Scotland is away out in front.
Previous page
