Steven Jonas, president of Birmingham Law Society, reports that 'Kafka is alive and well in the Birmingham Magistrates' Courts'. 'Normally if an individual needs to prove that he is who he claims to be, his production of his passport is sufficient for him to prove his identity,' he writes in his latest column in the society's journal. 'A client of mine had to surrender his passport as a condition of being granted bail over a year ago. When he was acquitted recently, the first thing he did was to book a foreign holiday. He then went to the Birmingham Magistrates' Court to collect his passport. He was told he could not have it until he proved his identity. And he was told that he could not use the passport in the court's possession as his proof.'