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Aspects of Law Reform: An Insider's Perspective, by Jack Straw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, xiv + 77 + (index) 7pp (£12.99 paperback). ISBN: 9781107618169.

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Aspects of Law Reform: An Insider's Perspective, by Jack Straw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013, xiv + 77 + (index) 7pp (£12.99 paperback). ISBN: 9781107618169.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Stephen Clear
Stephen Clear*
Affiliation:
Prifysgol Bangor University
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Type
Book Review
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 193 - 200
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2015

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References

54. Straw, J Aspects of Law Reform: An Insider's Perspective (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013) p 25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

55. Ibid, p 49.

56. Ibid, p 49.

57. Ibid, p 12; and HL Deb, 15 July 2003, cols 779–780.

58. Section 43 was to allow non-jury trials in serious and complex fraud cases where the complexity of the trial or the length of the trial, or both, was likely to make the case too burdensome for ordinary lay people. However, attempts to bring the section into force were unsuccessful in the House of Lords. Under the current administration, such proposals have since been repealed by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Pt 7 s 113.

59. Straw, above n 54, p 49.

60. Ibid, p 11.

61. Ibid, p 19, as supported by earlier literature such as Campbell-Holt, C (ed) Lord Woolf: The Pursuit of Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) pp 131–143.Google Scholar

62. Ibid, p 14.

63. Ibid.

64. Ibid.

65. [2006] EWCA Crim 1155.

66. The figures are from the early 1970s. There were 122,000 solicitors in practice in 2011 and 15,000 barristers in 2010.

67. Straw, above n 54, p 6.

68. Ibid, p 2.

69. Ibid, p 4.

70. J Berry ‘Reducing bureaucracy in policing’ (October 2010), available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117162/reduce-bureaucracy-police.pdf (accessed 11 December 2014).

71. See further Reynolds, A ‘Fear of cyber crime on the rise as nearly 80% believe their firm is likely to be hit by web hackers’ (2013) 15 Legal Week 4, andGoogle Scholar Pancholi, S ‘Fighting cybercrime’ (2014) 28 Lawyer 19, available at http://digitaledition.thelawyer.com/tl-270114/offline/download.pdf (accessed 11 December 2014).Google Scholar

72. This is coupled with the removal of ne bis in idem, whereby individuals cannot be charged with the same offence twice.

73. Straw, above n 54, p 12.

74. Ibid, p 13.

75. Ibid, p 17.

76. [2011] EWCA Crim 8.

77. Rt Hon. Auld, Lord Justice Review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales (London: Stationery Office, October 2001).Google Scholar

78. Royal Commission on Criminal Justice 1993, Cm 2263.

79. Straw, above n 54, p 16.

80. Report of the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure, 1981, Cmnd 8092, para 7.24.

81. Straw, above n 54, p 22.

82. See further http://wales.gov.uk/cafcasscymru/home/?lang=en (accessed 11 December 2014).

83. Straw, above n 54, p 23.

84. The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) was in place by 2013; see further http://www.qasa.org.uk/ (accessed 11 December 2014).

85. While Straw does not define his use of the term ‘Gypsy warnings’, one can reasonably infer that he is referring to the need for Strasbourg to cautiously acknowledge critics of the current human rights system.

86. Straw, above n 54, p 25.

87. (1857) 60 US 393.

88. Straw, above n 54, p 41.

89. Hale, B ‘ Argentoratum locutum: is Strasbourg or the Supreme Court supreme?’ (2012) 12 HRLR 65.Google Scholar

90. Straw, above n 54, p 40; and Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF (No 3) [2009] UKHL 28.

91. Chahal v United Kingdom no 70/1995/576/662.

92. McCann v United Kingdom (1996) 21 EHRR 97.

93. Straw, above n 54, p 30.

94. R (Alconbury) v Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions [2003] 2 AC 295.

95. R (Ullah) v Special Adjudicator [2004] UKHL 26.

96. Straw, above n 54, p 25.

97. S. and Marper v United Kingdom, no. 30562/04.

98. Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) (2004) no. 74025/01, 38 EHRR 40.

99. Al-Khawaja and Tahery v United Kingdom, no. 26766/05, [2011] ECHR 2127.

100. Straw, above n 54, p 49.

101. Ibid.

102. See further http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk (accessed 11 December 2014).

103. Straw, above n 54, p 52.

104. Ibid, p 55.

105. Ibid, p 60.

106. Ibid, p 53.

107. Ibid, p 56.

108. Ibid, p 59.

109. Ibid, p 61; here, Straw does not give any indication as to whether ‘us’ is in reference to the legal profession, politicians, or alternatively state officials as a whole.

110. Ibid.

111. Ibid.

112. Ibid, p 72.

113. Ibid.

114. Ibid, p 68.

115. Ibid, p 71.

116. See further http://jac.judiciary.gov.uk/ (accessed 11 December 2014).

117. Lord Sumption ‘Home truths about judicial diversity’ Bar Council Law Reform Lecture, 15 November 2012, available at http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/docs/speech-121115-lord-sumption.pdf (accessed 11 December 2014).

118. House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution Judicial Appointments, 28 March 2012.

119. See further Rackley, E Women, Judging and Judiciary: from Difference to Diversity (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013); andGoogle Scholar Malleson, K ‘Diversity in the judiciary: the case for positive action’ (2009) 36 J L Soc'y 376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

120. See further K Malleson ‘The case for gender quotas for appointments to the Supreme Court’ UK Supreme Court Blog, 23 May 2014, available at http://ukscblog.com/case-gender-quotas-appointments-supreme-court (accessed 11 December 2014) and Constitutional Reform Act 2005 s 27(8).

121. Equality and Human Rights Commission Review of the Use of Stop and Search Powers in England and Wales (London, March 2010); available at http://www.equalityhumanrights.com (accessed 11 December 2014).

122. See further Donnelly, J Universal Human Rights: in Theory and Practice (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2nd edn, 2003); andGoogle Scholar Gready, P Fighting for Human Rights (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2004).Google Scholar

123. Straw, above n 54, p 9.

124. Ibid.