header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Time to protect our rights & the rule of law

21 October 2022
Issue: 7999 / Categories: Legal News , Rule of law , Human rights
printer mail-detail
98005
Recent incursions by the government into the rule of law and associated citizens’ freedoms have disturbing parallels in history, and should not be ignored, Geoffrey Bindman KC writes in this week’s NLJ.

He looks back to 1819, the Peterloo Massacre and the subsequent ‘Six Acts’ repressing public gatherings, public criticism of the government, newspapers and political activity among the working class. Under Boris Johnson’s government, we had ‘five Acts’ curbing public protest and limiting judicial review, as well as proposals to repeal the Human Rights Act, although current prime minister Liz Truss has ditched former justice secretary Dominic Raab’s proposed Bill of Rights.

Bindman writes: ‘Scrapping Raab’s Bill could be a turning point away from a period of isolationism in our history under a government bent on weakening democratic accountability and the rule of law while cynically claiming the opposite. The ‘five Acts’, having ‘nugatory justification’, also need scrapping.’

Also covering the subject of freedom of speech, Hill Dickinson partner David Locke writes in this week’s NLJ on the use of ‘demonetisation’ to silence debate. Locke refers to the decision by PayPal to close the accounts of the Free Speech Union (subsequently re-opened following criticism). The idea that ‘unelected, unaccountable corporations will be able to exercise control over political discourse’ is an ’alarming possibility’, he writes. He asks whether it is now time to include ‘political belief’ among the roster of protected characteristics.

See Geoffrey's article on the rule of law here, and David's on demonetisation and freedom of speech here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll