The Law Society’s Gazette, July 1963

World peace through law

As this issue of the Gazette is published, the First World Conference on World Peace through the Rule of Law will have reached its concluding sessions in Athens. The first task of the world conference was to try to formulate principles of public international law for international courts to apply.

To many, it has seemed to be a case of putting the cart before the horse that the International Court of Justice should have existed for 18 years under the aegis of the United Nations without there being any universally accepted and up-to-date system of international law for it to apply. Unless the problem of creating such a system is solved now, the present International Court is unlikely ever to function effectively.

Letters to the editor: practising certificates

Is there any good reason (other than the express wording of sections 9 and 10 of the Solicitors Act 1957) why practising certificates should not be applied for and issued by post? Much time is wasted by the present requirements, and we can hardly expect the High Court to assist us in conducting litigation by post until we improve our own system.

The Law Society’s Gazette, July 1988

Anti-apartheid lawyers plan legal action against Society

Legal action is threatened against the Law Society over its refusal to allow two motions dealing with South Africa to be tabled for the annual general meeting later this month. The Society’s President, Sir Derek Bradbeer, is expected to refer to the South Africa question in his address to the AGM.

Domestic electronic surveillance or prison?

The Home Office is not discounting the introduction of electronic home surveillance of offenders. In Britain the idea has connotations of Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984. The National Association of Probation Officers has firmly stated its opposition to involvement with such surveillance. There is no evidence for the need for ‘tags’ as an alternative to imprisonment.

The Law Society’s Gazette, July 2008

Titan prison plans under attack

The government’s plans to build its way out of prison overcrowding came under attack last week from the authors of a seven-year investigation into the criminal justice system.

Rethinking Crime and Punishment, a programme funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, said abandoning the £2.3bn scheme for ‘Titan’ prisons and spending the money instead on strengthening community sentences would cut the need for prison places and reduce reoffending.