Reformer's itch
Sir: May I question R. A. Cline's conclusion (3 January) that 'whether trials are fairer . . . • is what law reform is about?' The truism that trials in the mother country of the Common- wealth are 'the fairest in the world' I readily accept, after over thirty years of experience as a practising lawyer.
Whenever a trial is in any way unfair in the United Kingdom, it will be found that the underlying explanation is that somehow human frailty and error have crept in. What law reform is about, therefore, as it seems to me, is firstly to minimise the opportunities for human frailty and error to creep in, and secondly to make the cotirts and the Parliamentary Commissioner available to all, in fact and not just in theory.
The huge majority of people do, in this country, have to allow their just claims to go by default, simply because they dare not risk the cost of litigating. Nor is legal aid and nor are neighbourhood lawyers' groups the answer, for two reasons: one is that these interpose a pre-court judgment by somebody other than the would-be litigant's adviser; the other is that some people, even if entitled to state subsidies, do not want them.
Louis de Pinna 5 New Square, Lincoln's Inn,london WC2
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