The Gazette 1993

VOL. 87 NO. 2

JULY/AUGUST 1993

L A W B R I E F

By Dr. Eamonn G. Hall, Solicitor

the judge's clerk. The person acts as a personal assistant to the judge, typing all the judge's official papers and personal correspondence; collecting and carrying the judge's books and papers to and from the Court; helping the judge to robe, ensuring that the robes are kept in good order; and to do other work as the judge may direct. When on circuit, the judge stays in judges' lodgings. The clerk will liaise with the court administration and the police in order to ensure that the court in which the clerk will have formal duties is run as the judge directs. The clerk is responsible for transport of the judge's baggage and for the judge's needs in the lodgings including the maintenance of household accounts and liaison with the housekeeper. The clerk stays in the lodgings free of charge returning home at weekends. The most important qualities for a judge's clerk are loyalty, discretion, reliability and adaptability. Experience of court procedure is an asset although formal training will be given. Judges' clerks have opportunities for promotion to higher executive officer and above and the salary upper limit is almost £17,000 sterling. In Brannigan and McBride -v- United j Kingdom, the European Court of I Human Rights in its judgment of May i 26, 1993 held that the United I Kingdom's withdrawal from I observance of certain of its obligations j under the European Convention of i Human Rights satisfied the j requirements of article 15 thereof and, ! therefore, applicants complaining of detention without being brought before : a court could not validly complain of a I violation of article 5.3 of the | Convention. Judge Brian Walsh and three other judges dissented. Suspension of Detainee's Rights Justified

I E A Michael Sachs, the first solicitor in the United Kingdom to he appointed a High Court Judge. relation to advocacy rights in the higher courts and in relation to senior judicial appointments was ended on the initiative of Lord Mackay, the Lord Chancellor, in his legal reforms in the UK Courts and Legal Services Act, 1990. The full impact of these changes has yet to be felt. Rituals of the Law: The Judges' Tipstaff Many are fascinated by the rituals of the law. One ritual which catches the attention of many is the judge of the High Court and his or her crier or tipstaff (all gowned with the tipstaff in possession of his staff) proceeding in procession from his or her chambers to the court. For those readers unfamiliar with this ritual, the staff is a rod used as a sign of office or authority. The staff is banged off the ground by the tipstaff, for example, when the judge leaves court so that the way can be prepared for the judge's exit to his or her chambers. The procession of judge and tipstaff precipitates an epidemic of bowing among the barristers and solicitors in the judge's path. Litigants simply stare in awe. Recently the Lord Chancellor's Department in London advertised vacancies for clerks to judges in England and Wales. Readers may be interested in ascertaining the duties of the equivalent of our criers or tipstaffs,

Solicitor Appointed to the High Court

A solicitor, Michael Sachs, 61, has made history in the United Kingdom by becoming the first solicitor to become a High Court judge appointed from outside the ranks of the Bar. He was made a High Court judge on June 18, 1993. Solicitors had been dismayed that no member of their profession had been promoted to the High Court Bench despite legislation two years ago to end the Bar's monopoly of senior judicial appointments. Mr. Justice Sachs had been a circuit judge since 1984. Former solicitors make up only a tenth of the five hundred circuit judges although solicitors have long been deemed eligible for the Circuit Bench. Solicitors were deemed eligible when circuit judges were created under the UK Courts Act, 1971. They had to have five years experience as a recorder so that the first solicitors were not appointed until 1976. Chancellor to try criminal cases in the Crown Court. The Crown Court was created by the UK Courts Act, 1971 as part of the Supreme Court and a superior court of record. The Crown Court's jurisdiction in relation to criminal charges on indictment is exercised by any High Court judge, circuit judge or recorder. It may hear appeals from magistrates' courts and may sentence persons committed for sentencing by those courts. Appeal lies to the Court of Appeal. The Law Society in London stated that it hopes that the appointment will be the first of many. The Society stated that it was a historic event and richly deserved. The monopoly of the Bar in Recorders are appointed on the recommendation of the Lord

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