The lord chancellor will be authorized to create secondary legislation
Lord chancellor David Lammy has introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill to UK parliament, enacting the government’s pitches to limit jury trials.
The Law Society Gazette reported that the bill underwent its first reading yesterday February 26. Parliament is expected to examine the legislation comprehensively during its passage.
The first part of the bill focuses on criminal court proceedings and changes the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 to eliminate the right to elect trial. It also reforms the Senior Courts Act 1981 so that cases may be allocated for trials without juries; moreover, it stipulates that “'certain complex or lengthy cases” may be tried without juries.
The second part changes the Children Act 1989 to repeal presumption that parents’ involvement in children’s lives would further the children’s welfare. It also modifies the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 to unite tribunals’ leadership under the lady chief justice and permit appointment of a deputy head of tribunals justice.
The third part of the bill authorizes the lord chancellor to create secondary legislation.
“Our courts reform will deliver record investment, serious reform and practical modernisation to get cases heard faster, protect jury trials for the most serious crimes, and set us on a path to turn the corner on the rising backlog by the end of this parliament. This is the only way to deliver the swift and fair justice victims deserve,” Lammy said in a statement published by the Gazette.
Commons justice committee chair Andy Slaughter said in a statement published by the Gazette that the bill reflected the government’s intent to “control the Crown court backlog by a combination of investment, greater efficiency and reform, including controversial proposals on how and where cases will be tried.” He called for publication of the measure to “allow the government to explain exactly what type and number of cases will lose the right to a jury trial and how much this will contribute to reducing the backlog.”
“That evidence is what should decide how the right to jury trial is prescribed,” Slaughter said.
The measure’s full title is “A bill to make provision in relation to criminal courts in England and Wales; to make provision about the leadership of tribunals; to amend section 1 of the Children Act 1989 to remove the presumption relating to the involvement of parents in the life of a child; and for connected purposes.” Parliament has not set a second reading date.
The UK government anticipates that royal assent will be secured within the year.
