* * Judicial Reforms It is satisfactory that the Government
has decided to adopt the proposals of Lord Hanworth's Committee on Legal Reform. The shortening of the Long Vacation, which is to cover August and September only, and not to run into October, is a small matter. - Of far greater importance is the suggestion that, apart from actions for libel or slander, or involving fraud, all civil actions in the King's Bench should be subject to the New Procedure, which has worked well in certain classes of cases, and that the Judge, in his discretion—and not the parties'—should determine whether a jury should be summoned. The civil jury is a venerable institution, but modern legal opinion is more and more doubtful of its capacity to do justice in difficult cases. The Committee's proposal to abolish Grand Juries will meet with little opposition. The Grand Jury is a relic of antiquity which causes much inconvenience and expense.
Previous page
