All articles by James Morton – Page 3
-
-
NewsMulling over asylum strategy
In 2002, Blair thought asylum seekers might be sent to the Isle of Mull. Sixty years ago, the same idea was mooted for top-class criminals.
-
NewsCautionary tales for Christmas
James Morton finds some grim seasonal episodes in the legal archives.
-
NewsFrom shoplifting to much worse?
Not all thieves will move on to worse, but there is sufficient evidence to show that many of them will graduate.
-
-
-
NewsBarrister jailed for NZ kidnap plot
In 1992, 46-year-old barrister John Burrett had not long opened chambers in Canterbury, Kent.
-
-
NewsRungs on ladder of corruption?
The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Free coffee is one step along it.
-
-
NewsBeware clients bearing gifts
I have had gifts from happy clients, but generally they have been like those borne by the Greeks.
-
NewsPistols at dawn for Aussie judge
Not too many High Court judges have fought duels, but Irish-born Australian Redmond Barry did.
-
NewsLawyers set off trigger points
British lawyers handling guns in court did rather well in the last century.
-
NewsFalse witness
The most dangerous witness ever must have been in 1928 in Lowndes County, Alabama.
-
NewsKeeping schtum
Until 2022 it was over 60 years since a silk had been suspended for withholding evidence favourable to the defence.
-
-
News
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 ...
-
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.
-
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.
-
NewsI was never good at the SACS race
Morton finds himself appointed sports secretary at the Solicitors Articled Clerks Society.