Orders of the Day — ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE BILL [Lords].

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 27 Gorffennaf 1923.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Captain Reginald Berkeley Captain Reginald Berkeley , Nottingham Central

Surely a Judge is entitled to comment upon the evidence. I have no wish to set my lay opinion against the opinions of my legal Friends, but I have always been under the impression that a Judge, in summing up, had a perfect right to comment upon the evidence and, surely, if a piece of foreign law had been introduced into the case, it would be within the Judge's right to comment upon the effect of that law. May I point to some of the results which may come from too hastily taking away the constitutional rights of British subjects? That may appear a rather high-sounding phrase, but these are constitutional rights, and when one is dealing with them it is no harm to state the facts. In our West African Colonies, for various reasons, it has been thought proper to introduce modifications of the legal system. No doubt these modifications were introduced in order to save time, to expedite procedure and, generally, for the best of motives. The result has been, however, that in some of our West African possessions, the right of trial by jury has been taken away, and as hon. Members who have studied the question know, this has aroused bitter comment and opposition. Not only that, but in making legal: changes the next step comes when you restrict the right of people to employ counsel. It is only one step from the one thing to the other. You begin by tinkering with the system of trial by jury. You are doing it in order to expedite procedure, and your motives are excellent, but then you think of some other method of expediting procedure. Again your intentions are excellent, but the next thing is that you say that your County Court administration would be much simpler if you restricted the right of litigants in certain cases to employ counsel. It may sound far fetched, but I can only say that it has been done in our West African Colonies. I do not suggest that it is a proper course to follow in this country, but I give it merely as an illustration of the kind of results that flow when these interferences take place with the constitutional rights of our subjects. The Attorney-General said he would leave to a free vote of the House the passage or non-passage of this Bill if it could be shown that it did not extend the existing rights.