Nick Kew said:Tilly said:Surely it cannot be right for a car to be driven at 60mph in a
residential area, in a non-emergency situation, and without proper
authorisation. If the judge thinks that it is within the law, then
the law may be flawed.
On a general note that may or may not be relevant to this instance
(I don't have the inside knowledge with which to tell that):
The law leaves judges with a huge amount of discretion to 'interpret'
it. This may mean setting aside or totally overriding commonsense, or
what parliament intended when they legislated.
And judges are the very heart of corruption in this country. They're
not accountable to anyone, and above (enjoy statutory protection from)
scrutiny and criticism except at a very general moan-over-a-pint[1]
level. Appointment to the position is by a self-perpetuating "he's
one of us, old chap" process. They fulfill the role of the communist
party in the old soviet union, but they're far more deep-rooted and
secure than that was.
At the law-making end of the system, Sir Humphrey basically says it.
So perhaps you need to expand the subject of the discussion to the
system of law.
[1] Mine's a pint of tea, in the pub of usenet.
The sort of constitutional thinking that underlies the US Constitution
and others says it is important that the the legislative, executive and
judicial arms of government are separate. Hence, your observations
concerning what you describe as the "corruption" and lack of
accountability of the judiciary are in fact signs of constitutional
health. Judges in this country are sufficiently well paid that they are
difficult to bribe compared to those in many other countries. The judges
also cannot be dismissed or directly ordered by government ministers.
Again, this is usually seen as a strength of the system.
Their independence is under attack here (and under much more severe
assault in the US) by politicians and witless proles who think that
somebody like Blunkett (ex-Communist Party, hates our judges) should
have the power to take anybody's liberty from them at will, without real
judicial process. This leads quickly to the "Peoples Prosecutors"
condemning people to order on behalf of the ruling party and the secret
police arriving at dawn to "disappear" people. When this arrives, and
the UK has its own Vyshinskys, perhaps you will recall your laughable
assertion about our "communist" judges and realise how fatuous your
little rant was.
--
Joe * If I cannot be free I'll be cheap
