All articles by James Morton – Page 3
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NewsBarrister jailed for NZ kidnap plot
In 1992, 46-year-old barrister John Burrett had not long opened chambers in Canterbury, Kent.
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NewsRungs on ladder of corruption?
The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Free coffee is one step along it.
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NewsBeware clients bearing gifts
I have had gifts from happy clients, but generally they have been like those borne by the Greeks.
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NewsPistols at dawn for Aussie judge
Not too many High Court judges have fought duels, but Irish-born Australian Redmond Barry did.
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NewsLawyers set off trigger points
British lawyers handling guns in court did rather well in the last century.
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NewsFalse witness
The most dangerous witness ever must have been in 1928 in Lowndes County, Alabama.
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NewsKeeping schtum
Until 2022 it was over 60 years since a silk had been suspended for withholding evidence favourable to the defence.
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On the attack
Over the years mercifully little in the way of violence has broken out in English courts. Perhaps the most famous example is from the time when a sort of franglais was the lingua franca. In 1631 it was recorded that a prisoner ‘puis son condemnation ject un brickbat a le ...
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NewsTorn off a stipe
In the 1960s, to be assigned legal aid cases it was necessary to write to the court asking to be put on the register of firms willing to undertake this ill-paid work.
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NewsMagistrate with a literary bent
Pre-war chief magistrate Sir Chartres Biron, a stickler for the King’s English, fancied himself as something of a belle-lettrist.
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NewsI was never good at the SACS race
Morton finds himself appointed sports secretary at the Solicitors Articled Clerks Society.
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NewsParading your identity politics
ID parades in the days when I had just qualified were nerve-racking.
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NewsRead letter day leads to gallows
The year 1922 was not a good one for Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett, or more particularly for his clients.
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NewsPlaying the ID blame game
My clients were convinced that parades were rigged and I have no doubt sometimes they were.
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NewsPaying the price for counsel
In the 1960s, the wife of a client turned up after he had been acquitted and pushed an envelope across the desk. ‘Give that to [his counsel], will you? It’s £400.’
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NewsLearned friends in high places
It was fortunate for Edmund Galley that a number of young barristers were in court at Exeter Assizes in 1836 to watch his murder trial.
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FeatureHave the judges lost control?
I know that as one gets older, the past gets rosier, but one thing is certain – justice was swifter years ago.