An inquisitorial approach?

The Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Thomas, has suggested that the civil and family courts take a more inquisitorial approach in response to state cutbacks. This could be “really little more than the active interventionism characteristic of much pre-trial procedure, case and trial management”. In a speech to the civil liberties group, Justice, this week, Sir John said the cuts were now thought to “be something in the order of at least a third in real terms of the 2010 expenditure not the two or three per cent of the past years”, and were likely to be permanent. In this age of “retrenchment”, we must be “radical”, he said.