Now that the European Union has taken over large areas of British life, and is on track for controlling the remainder with its draft constitution, it is necessary for us, as lawyers, to scrutinise the proposals in the context of how they will affect the English system of justice.

It is evident that the changes proposed are profound.

For a start, the continental countries, under the Corpus Juris or Napoleonic code, operate an inquisitorial system.

Our system is accusatorial.

The two systems are not susceptible to harmonisation.

In addition, our system emphasises certain valuable rights for defendants in criminal cases, such as the right of silence, the presumption of innocence, the right not to incriminate oneself, the right to trial by jury, the right of habeas corpus, and the right not to be prosecuted twice for the same offence.

These rights do not feature on the continent.

That system is based on the philosophy that man was made for the state; ours is that the state was made for man.

J G Hanning, Woking

See feature, page 24 (see [2003] Gazette, 30 October)