Clause 44 - Monitoring banking transactions
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
The hon. Gentleman is right to probe the reason why the judicial authority in this instance can be a justice of the peace, because we are talking about an intrusive procedure. It goes beyond a basic warrant, which is the usual ceiling for requests outwith the judicial authority, and in other circumstances only those above a magistrate, such as a circuit judge,
would become involved. I would be grateful if the Minister made her position known to us.
There is a time lag or at least an inconsistency in judicial nomenclature between the Home Department and the Department that used to be called the Lord Chancellor's Department. For instance, Northern Ireland has both resident and lay magistrates. The latter are the equivalent of the justices of the peace in England and Wales, and yet they are not to have the power to make the request. That does not seem entirely logical. It would have been logical before the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, but there is now the creation of the lay magistrates, although they do not yet exist.