Magna Carta 1215: New Labour in Breach! Outrageous Silence

Clause 38 ‘In future no official shall bring anyone to trial on his own unsupported statement without producing trustworthy witnesses to the alleged offence.

Clause 39 'No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions ... except by the lawful judgment of his peers and according to the law of the land.'
Clause 40 'To no one will we sell, refuse or delay the operation of right or justice.'
Why is it that the myth of Magna Carta is promoted as a great document but the sad truth is that it is ignored. New Labour is not alone in ignoring the simplicity of Magna Carta, claiming to prefer the more complicated provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. But this still allows our civil liberties to be cast aside on grounds of expediency, knowing full well that private citizens for the most part do not have the resources to challenge an abuse of power. Anyone who knows anything about our system of government will soon realise that the people get their rights by a trickle down from above and the trickle is governed by the tap the Government chooses to turn on and off at its whim.

Judging by the terms of Clause 40 the law is open to all. It is: like the Ritz Hotel, to quote the old joke. Just try to challenge a delay or denial of justice in the courts and you will soon find out that it is not free. Indeed access will be barred due to costs alone let alone trying to find a lawyer to act or a provision the legal aid scheme which will allow you to be funded. In any case, if you are moderately well off, you are on your own mate!

The present Government, like its predecessors have been squeezing the legal budget for years and now its looks as though the solicitors who are in the front line are going to be like the farmers. They must do the job for less than cost. They will cut corners of course but if they go too far they will lose their franchise. The result? More lawyers will withdraw from the scheme, more firms will not train lawyers and the big cats will move in to asset strip the lucrative assets of old firms, close down unprofitable sections and put their fees up.

Against all of this the Government assures us that it wants to make the professions less elitist. I don’t know how they are going to achieve this with students leaving university with huge debts and facing huge bills for professional examination courses, and with little prospect for the majority of finding a training position. Coming from a generation of politicians who had a lot of help to get where they are; grammar schools, public schools and university grants etc, Jack New Labour must be running out of ladders to pull up. Some hope for Magna Carta. .

Dacier.

See Spaghetti Gazetti by The Editor on 02/08/09