All articles by James Morton – Page 7
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NewsMeaning of the Worboys affair
The John Worboys affair throws up more questions than it answers. Is the case being hijacked by moral entrepreneurs and used to have sentences for rape increased? And will it open the floodgates for what amount to appeals by victims against Parole Board decisions? How will these be funded? Legal ...
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NewsPrivacy and past crimes
James Morton People seeking privacy over past misdemeanours are following an old tradition. Ninety years ago Sergeant Sullivan, opening a libel action by Francis Alfonso Smith, asked the jury to say that there was too much revival of matter which ‘Mr Smith might hope was buried’. ...
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NewsSmooth as Silk? Not quite...
The old dictum ‘You may have your choice of counsel but not the counsel of your choice’ seems to have cropped up recently in the Northern Ireland case over whether a defendant had to have a silk represent him. The question whether a good junior is better than a poor ...
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NewsThe art of the perfect con
The Financial Conduct Authority has been broadcasting radio advertisements warning against scams. The listener is told to choose between Pitch A and Pitch B and decide which is the con. Personally, I thought they both sound like scams. Curiously, and quite by chance, I recently came ...
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NewsEvidence? Then spill the beans
The quarrel over non-disclosure, particularly in rape cases, rumbles on. I see that austerity is now being blamed for the failure of the police and Crown Prosecution Service to realise that, in some cases, complainants are not being wholly frank. I also see a suggestion that bobbies are to be ...
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NewsName game to blame for crime
James Morton ponders the link between names and criminal behaviour.
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NewsTough questions over hard cases
The very disparate cases of John Worboys, Jon Venables and Ben Stokes (pictured) highlight some of the topical problems of the criminal justice process. James Morton Taking Stokes’ case first, last week the England cricketer was charged with affray over an alleged incident outside a nightclub in ...
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NewsHow lit funders fought rail giant
Litigation funding is nothing new. At one time it was known as maintenance and champerty, and was a felony designed to stop robber barons hijacking litigation for their own ends. But 130 years ago the public rallied to help fight the barons in the form of the railway – and ...
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NewsJury out on no-show excuses
I forget who it was who asked, ‘Who would want to be tried by 12 people who were so stupid they could not get off a jury?’. They have a point. There again – forget all that rubbish about civic duty – who would want to be tried by 12 ...
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NewsReceiving end of a real wigging
It is always dangerous for old fogies to dive in on today’s quarrels, so I will merely dip a toe. The subject is rude judges who undermine young advocates’ confidence to the extent they are reduced to tears and carry the memory with them for days or weeks. First, just ...
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NewsCooking lunch at her convenience
Whatever misdemeanours are revealed in the next report of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, our judiciary is non-league compared with premier league-standard Las Vegas family court judge Elizabeth Halverson. She qualified in 1992 and in 1995 became a clerk to the 8th Judicial District before setting up her own practice. ...
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NewsDeath becomes her at Old Bailey
Florence Earengey sat in on the Beatrice Pace murder trial when her husband was junior counsel to Norman Birkett, but the first woman to lead in a murder case at the Old Bailey was Venetia Stephenson. She defended William Holmyard, charged with the December 1928 murder of his 72-year-old grandfather. ...
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NewsOur new moral entrepreneurs
I wonder if the demonstrations over the Charlie Gard case, the opposition to Martin Moore-Bick in the Grenfell Tower inquiry and the general attack on the judiciary over the Brexit hearings are the start of what sociologists call a ‘symbolic’ crusade – complete with ‘moral entrepreneurs’. In a symbolic crusade ...
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NewsSolicitor hangs after forgery
In 1789, Shropshire solicitor Thomas Phipps, his son Thomas Jnr and their clerk, 16-year-old William Thomas, went on trial at Shrewsbury Assizes for the capital offence of forgery. The victim was a Richard Coleman, once an excise officer and now an Oswestry publican. Phipps senior had leased two parcels of ...
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NewsJailed financier's bolt for freedom
James Morton recalls De Courcy’s brief escape from custody.
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NewsExotic flowers in the jury box
First women to sit on juries faced expected and unexpected challenges.
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NewsWindies legend bowls 'em over
I can’t think in my pantheon of sporting lawyers how I came to omit the great West Indian cricketer Sir Learie Constantine. Mea culpa. He played for the Windies from 1923 until 1939, during which time he also played in Lancashire League cricket. Morton landscape Wisden described ...