The Gazette 1972

Representations of sportsmen on columns or plinths were not "trophy cups, bowls and similar articles of a kind awarded as prizes" within Group 4 (c) of Schedule 1 to the Purchase fax Act, 1963, but were "figures, busts, reliefs and similar articles of a kind produced in quantity for general sale" (Group 25), and so were chargeable at 55 per cent tax. Mr. Justice MacKenna so decided when rejecting a claim by Arbiter Championship Trophies Ltd., of Gerrard Street, W, for a declaration that the articles were chargeable at the lower rate under Group 4 (c) and for recovery of £10,000 tax allegedly overpaid. [Arbiter Championship Trophies Ltd. v Customs and Excise Commissioners; QBD; 7/2/1972.] Long-term compensation payments made by a local authority to a redundant employee are chargeable to income tax under Defendants whose solicitors merely acknowledged the receipt of documents while the plaintiff's new solicitors for a year took steps to proceed with his case for negligence after 3J years' inactivity by his previous solicitors, were held not to have waived their right to make an application to dismiss the action for want of prosecution. [Vaughan v F. Parnham Ltd.; C.A.; 28/3/1972.] Bringing Justice to places where it is badly needed by MARCEL BERLINS Case III of Schedule D as annual payments and not under Schedule E as a pension, his Lordship held in allowing an appeal by the Crown from a decision of the general com- missioners discharging assessments under Schedule D for 1968- 1969 and 1969-1970 made upon the taxpayer, Mr. T. Shaw. [McMann (Inspector of Taxes) v Shaw; Ch. Div.; Ungoed-Thomas J.; 16/3/1972.] Time

The Act abolishes Courts of Assize and Quarter Ses- sions and replaces them with a single Crown Court with power to sit anywhere in England and Wales, thus enabling justice to be available readily where it is need- ed. This new Court will hear all criminal cases above magistrates' court level and take over the limited civil and appellate jurisdiction vested in Quarter Sessions. Civil cases formerly heard by High Court judges on Assize will continue to be heard by those judges who, however, will sit where the volume of work, and not the assize itinerary, dictates. Crown courts will be manned by High Court judges who will hear the more serious criminal cases, and a newly-created bench of Circuit Judges, the first appointments to which will be made mainly from existing county court judges and full- time judges with criminal jurisdiction. These professional judges will be assisted by Recorders, part-time judges of the Crown Court, who will be expected to sit for at least 20 days a year. The particular significance of this office is that it is open to solicitors and thus gives them the opportunity of becoming Cir- cuit Judges, as Recorders holding office for five years are eligible for the higher appointments. The Beeching Report had made a majority recom- mendation that solicitors be eligible to become Circuit Judges directly, but the original Courts Bill gave them no part in the judiciary. It was only after a sometimes angry and undignified disagreement between the two branches of the legal profession that a compromise solution was reached by way of an amendment moved by the Lord Chancellor. One Beeching recommendation not adopted was the proposal that Justices of the Peace should sit as assessors in some cases before the Crown Court. The Act pro- vides that they shall sit at full members of the bench in certain classes of criminal trials to be determined by the Lord Chancellor. The country has been divided into six circuits, each having three tiers of Crown courts. First-tier centres of which there will be 24, will deal with civil and criminal cases and will be served by High Court and Circuit Court Judges. The 19 second-tier centres will be manned simil- arly but will hear criminal cases only. Third-tier centres (46 of them) will be served only by Circuit Judges and will deal with less important criminal cases. Criminal offences have been divided into four classes 137

The "greatest reform in the administration of justice this century and possibly in legal history" was how Lord Gardiner the former Lord Chancellor described proposals for the reorganization and streamlining of the English court system contained in the Courts Act, 1971, the main provisions of which come into operation on New Year's day, 1972. Basically the existing system failed to stand up to the enormous increase in both criminal and civil cases. Arrears had been building up in the courts for many years. The delays were leading to increasing injustice, sometimes of a very serious nature, and the situation was worsening. The courts structure above magistrates' court level had remained almost untouched by the changed cir- cumstances of the 20th century. Assize towns establish- ed many centuries ago had for long borne no relation to the amount of work to be dealt with. Many towns with far larger populations and more work were not on the circuit at all. Yet judges were obliged to follow rigidly the ancient and inefficient itineraries, visiting until recently such towns as Presteigne (Radnorshire), Beaumaris (Anglesey) and Appleby (Westmorland), all with fewer than two thousand inhabitants. Courts of quarter sessions were controlled on a borough or county level as were their judges and staff. Within these inflexible territorial boundaries there was almost autonomy, and standards and policies often differed widely. Courts in some areas might be heavily overloaded with cases but there was no way in which assistance could be given to these courts by less busy judges. The Beeching Commission, whose main recommen- dation formed the basis of the Act, was of the opinion that rigidity and inflexibility were the main reasons for the inability of the system to cope with increasing work, and hence were responsible for the injustices which followed. Above all the new system is designed to ensure flex- ibility. Under the Courts Act, the Lord Chancellor assumes control over a nationally unified courts struc- ture and is giving wide-ranging powers to make adminis- trative decisions, for instance for the location and man- ning of courts in the interest of efficiency and justice. Officers and staffs of the courts become part of a Rational courts service, also the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor.