While it is to be welcomed that the Law Society opposed a quota system to increase 'diversity' on the bench, we really have to question what is meant by its submission to a consultation by the Department for Constitutional Affairs (see [2005] Gazette, 3 February, 4).

What does 'be reflective' really mean? No one person can be a mirror image of another, let alone a mirror image of a group of people, so these proposals would be completely unworkable. The only way forward is to continue to appoint on merit alone, allowing the best to reach the top.


If the appointment system was either to reflect or represent different groups of people in our country, there would always be a tension between either appointing judges solely on merit or making up the numbers just because of an individuals' colour, sex or background - not that the latter should matter if they have been barristers or solicitors of many years' standing.


John Midgley, Comptons, London