Even judges are confused by the law... says Britain's top judge

Judges are struggling to understand ‘impenetrable’ new laws, the country’s most senior judge has warned.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said some legislation was so complex and unclear even senior judges found it hard to work out what it meant.
Compared with a decade ago, it takes much longer for the judiciary to work out what Parliament’s intention was when passing new laws, placing ‘unreasonable demands’ on judges’ brainpower, he said.

 

Criticism: Britain's top judges, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge (left) and Lord Philips, president of the Supreme Court have lashed out at 'impenetrable' new laws that they say do nothing to cut crime while laying heavy burdens on judges

He attacked sentencing laws in particular for clogging up the courts, as judges and magistrates struggle to cope with the ‘continuing burden of comprehending and applying impenetrable legislation’.
The delays caused by judges puzzling over laws are hurting victims and witnesses, as well as defendants, he said.

 

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Lord Judge said he had hoped next year would involve the ‘quiet application of well understood and established principles’. But he added: ‘That will not happen.’
He pointed to new murder laws which came into force in October.
The controversial change removed the defence of provocation from husbands who kill cheating wives in ‘crimes of passion’ and abolished infidelity as a defence in murder cases.
Lord Judge said it was inevitable that some ‘extremely vexing questions’ would arise as judges ‘struggle to follow the legislative intention’.
His comments came in the annual report of the Court of Appeal, which rules on whether individual convictions and sentences were unfair.
It revealed the huge increase in the court’s workload over the last 12 months. It received 7,133 applications for appeal in the year to September, compared with 6,769 a year earlier.
Lord Judge said: ‘It has been another year of unremitting commitment to the administration of criminal justice. That is as it should be.
‘What remains less tolerable is the continuing burden of comprehending and applying impenetrable legislation, primarily but not exclusively in relation to sentencing.’
Last year Lord Phillips, the President of the Supreme Court, attacked the ‘ceaseless torrent’ of new laws.
He said too much legislation had done nothing to cut crime while laying heavy burdens on judges.