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Law in practice

12 December 2014 / Robert Spicer , Polly Lord
Issue: 7634 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Robert Spicer & Polly Lord consider the current consequences of law

“The law in its majestic impartiality forbids both rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and steal bread” (Anatole France, Crainqueville ).

“Law” is a word that is easy to spell but difficult to define. While its effects can be seen from shocking newspaper headlines rippling down through to our daily lives, it is hard to know exactly what law is in practice. The description of law is often given through explaining its consequences. If we look at the current consequences of law, however, the picture is not a happy one.

Price

Law has a price. For poor people, legal rights are largely illusory. They have no real application outside academic institutions and law firms which work for employers. A national network of Law Centres, funded by the state, would alleviate this state of affairs by providing poor people with access to free advice and/or representation.

Class

Law depends on class. Class justice

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
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After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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