All articles by Joshua Rozenberg – Page 13
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OpinionWatching briefs
The master of the rolls believes all court proceedings will eventually be televised.
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OpinionPress regulation: we’re stuck, please help
It is easy to see why Sir Brian Leveson does not want to say more about regulation of the press.
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OpinionReigning Supreme
Conservative plans to take power away from Strasbourg will not stop Supreme Court from enforcing human rights.
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OpinionInquiring into inquiries
Parliamentary inquiries are becoming an increasingly important part of the UK’s uncodified constitution.
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OpinionThe appeal of accessible judgments
Judges should be applauded for trying to make judgments accessible and enjoyable.
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OpinionShould Prince's letters be exempt from disclosure?
An apparent ‘constitutional aberration’ is to come under scrutiny from the Court of Appeal
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OpinionWhy the Magna Carta still has relevance today
What shall we be doing in the summer of 2015? A general election is scheduled for 7 May. If Theresa May gets her way, we shall be voting on whether to denounce a list of rights and liberties that will have been binding on our rulers for little more than ...
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OpinionVictim surcharge: unintended consequences
I have always felt uneasy about the victim surcharge
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News
Slackness over prisoner votes shows contempt
Parliament can move very quickly when it needs to. Laws can be passed within days if necessary - even hours. But the legislative process can move extremely slowly when political needs dictate. And that is what has happened to the issue of votes for prisoners.
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News
Turning lord chancellor into just another politician was a mistake
In less than a month’s time, we shall be marking the 10th anniversary of a constitutional revolution. It will not be a cause for celebration. On June 12, 2003, the judiciary lost its head. In sacking Lord Irvine of Lairg, Tony Blair was not merely reshuffling his cabinet. The prime ...
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News
Grayling’s JR reforms met with widespread opposition
Judicial review is a way of making sure that public officials, including ministers, keep within the law. So there must be cause for concern when we hear a minister announce reforms to judicial review that will ‘target the weak, frivolous and unmeritorious cases which congest the courts and cause delay’ ...
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News
EU accession to the ECHR will change Euro legal framework
For as long as I have been a legal journalist, I have tried to explain to people that there are two separate European courts run by two unrelated European bodies. The 47-member Council of Europe administers the European Convention on Human Rights and supports a court in Strasbourg that decides ...
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News
Maintaining public confidence is tough for the judiciary
Having good judgement is one thing that the judiciary should be good at. But deciding cases is not nearly as difficult for judges as maintaining public confidence in the judiciary. And that requires considerable sensitivity to the public mood.
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News
Positive discrimination in judiciary faces struggles
The appointment of three ‘top judges’ attracted predictably little press attention last week, even though Lord Justice Hughes, Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Hodge will make up a quarter of the Supreme Court. Perhaps that is a good sign; it suggests the public has no reason to doubt that the ...
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News
‘Press LSB’ without MPs’ approval is unattractive
The government’s attempts to reform press regulation have something of the surreal about them. A draft royal charter, full of suitably medieval language, was published by the Conservatives last week - apparently, because they did not want to put a bill before parliament. But, despite that, they published draft legislation ...
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News
Drone dialogue
When can states use lethal drone strikes on terrorists operating abroad? There is little consensus between government lawyers and academics on when international law will permit unmanned aerial vehicles to target individuals. And the need for a common position was given added impetus late last month when a QC announced ...
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News
Crown succession approach out of kilter
Governments are often accused of legislating in haste and repenting at leisure. One such example is the Succession to the Crown Bill, backed by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and to be debated in the Commons next week.
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News
Seat at international table at risk over human rights
It seems a long time since human rights were regarded as a noble aspiration. Since then, they have become something of a political football. Where will it be kicked next? On prisoners’ votes, the government’s goal is clearly the long grass. Remember David Cameron promising that ‘prisoners are not getting ...
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News
Fears LETR may lead to ‘misguided reform’
A forthcoming report on the case for reforming legal education and training may be ‘unbalanced or worse’, the UK’s senior judge said in a lecture last week. According to Lord Neuberger, ‘misguided reform’ initiated by the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) may ‘undermine the rule of law and our ...
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News
Blazing a trail: women and the judiciary
Who was the first woman judge in England and Wales? If you replied ‘Elizabeth Lane’, award yourself an A grade: Lane (1905-1998) became the first female county court judge in 1962, moving to the High Court three years later.