Constitutional

What happens when the judiciary in young democracies seeks to apply result-orientated judgments to the emotional evaluation of a particular case? South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal has had to deal with two such cases. David Wurtzel reports on Mr Justice Harms’ speech to CEBA.  

When does judging become irrational? When it reaches a conclusion and then looks for the reasons to justify it. On 8 June Mr Justice Harms, the Deputy President of South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”), gave a speech to the Commonwealth in England Barristers’ Association (“CEBA”) on how creative judging or result-orientated judgments—ie reaching a conclusion and then looking for the reasons to justify it—has been used in an emerging democracy with reference to two specific cases before the SCA. The following is an extract from his speech. 

Desmond Browne QC reports on events affecting the Bar and notes the passing of the House of Lords’ Judicial Committee 

Baroness Scotland scored a number of firsts simply in becoming Attorney General. In office she has taken an unprecedented lead in ensuring that those who represent the Crown are as diverse as the Bar and in encouraging the Bar to be as diverse as the people it represents, finds David Wurtzel 

Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve lambasted the waste of money on an “entirely unnecessary” Supreme Court, when he delivered the recent Boydell lecture. 

Sir Anthony Clarke is to retire as Master of the Rolls at the end of September, and will become a Justice of the Supreme Court, which opens on 1 October 2009, following the retirement of Lord Scott as Law Lord. A panel of four—Lord Judge, Lord Phillips, the chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission and a lay member of the Commission—will select Sir Anthony’s replacement.

Desmond Browne QC reviews the state of the profession in 2009 

As the Ministry of Justice marks its first anniversary, Elsa Booth meets Jack Straw—the first Lord Chancellor to sit in the Commons and with an unprecedented remit—and examines the man behind the ministry and his vision for justice