The Gazette 1967/71

SUMMARY

Group (1) (2)

No. of Time Units 22 25

Time cost factor per unit s. d. 12/2 6/1

Time value £13 5 10 7 12 1 £20 17 11

0 0

0

£32

CHARGED

BE

FEE TO

Schedule 2 factors (consider complexity, skill, documents, place, value and importance)

31 10

DISBURSEMENTS TOTAL BILL

0

£63 10

Parliament. Although a rare interruption at the swearing in of a new Lord Chancellor, the action of Mr. Rose was not the first of its kind. When Lord Jowitt was sworn in as Lord Chancellor a man in on the public benches raised a similar issue before him. Lord Jowitt directed then that the issue raised, concerning private litigation, should be heard by a single judge immediately, and it was. There have been other similar incidents in the past in the High Court, at the swearing in of new judges and on the traditional opening ceremony of the new High Court legal term. Outside the court Mr. Rose, of Harwich, Essex, admitted that he had been "thrown out" of council meetings when he was a member of Essex County Council. Of his intervention, he said: "I thought that today was the time to bring the matter up before the public." 2—Judge Defends Suspects' Right to Keep Silent A suspect's right to refuse to answer police questions or to give evidence at his trial was staunchly defended by Mr. Justice McKenna, a High Court judge since 1961. In an address to the annual Meeting of Justice in London he crossed swords with lawvers, including Lord Parker, the Lord Chief Justice, who have recently been urging the abolition of the rule that police must give warnings to suspects that they are not obliged to answer questions. Referring to Lord Parker's remarks at a recent Parlia mentary Press Gallery Lunch. Mr. Justice McKenna said he was "surprised" Lord Parker believed that "this small change in our arrangements would have any worthwhile effect on the statistics of crime." In his view, the citizens protection in questioning by the police needed strengthening. Far from abolishing the caution, he would require the police to tell the suspect of his rieht to be legally advised. This meant that if the suspect did decide to waive his privilege of not incriminating himself, he would do ro freeh' and with understanding. Mr. Justice MacKenna said that under the present system it would be surprising if the rules for the police taking statements from suspects were not often broken. Temptations on the police were too great. A new rule that the accused's answers or statements should not be admissable unless repeated before a magistrate would be a safeguard against onnression and false evidence. But he honed this would be introduced 53

NEWS

LEGAL

MISCELLANEOUS

1—Protest Halts Court as Chancellor is Sworn In Lord Hailsham (Mr. Quintin Hogg), had J ust been sworn in as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, in the High Court, when a man in the public benches jumped to his feet in protest about the law of the land and the way, he claimed, it is wrongly administered. It was an unexpected interruption, which brought the court to silence just as if someone had made a mistake and "dropped a brick" in what is normally a quiet, traditional and formal ceremony. But there, in the public benches, stood Mr. Leonard Rose, 61, in a casual sports jacket, trousers and open- neck shirt. He faced the new Lord Chancellor in his traditional robes of office — which his father, a previous Lord Chancellor, had worn before him — with Lord Parker, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, and Sir Jocelyn Simon, President of the Divorce and Admiralt" Division, in their full regalia of robes and full-bottomed wigs, sitting on his left and right. Surrounding them on the Bench in a tight cluster, similarly clad in full regalia, were 10 Appeal Court judges and judges from other divisions, in their ordinary robes, a total force of 30-strong. But Mr. Rose, talking; over the heads of 60 bewieged and robed senior and junior counsel sitting immediately in front of him, carried on talking to the Lord Chancellor. He legally raised his voice in court immediate!" the new Lord Chancellor had taken his oath of High Office and, in it, promised to "do right to all manner of people." Mr. Rose, a former Essex countv councillor and a chartered surveyor, took his cue when the new Lord Chancellor asked if there were any "motions" before the court. He got up and put 13 "motions." Thev included a plea for reforming the law, and urged that in general it should be brought up to date and shed its "archaic practices." Mr. Rose also called for lav magistrates to be appointed without political influence; for solicitors to be able to conduct cases in any court; and for lonerer working hours for Hieh Court Judges—so that justice could HP "needed im for the litigant and persons await ing trial and the hearing of appeals. The Lord Chancellor ^eard him in silence. But at the end of Mr. Rose's uninterrupted pleas he told him that matters raised were not for the courts but for