Clause 6 - Influencing a prosecutor
Justice (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords]
Public Bill Committees, 1 April 2004, 10:00 am
Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 57, in
clause 6, page 4, line 15, after 'whether', insert 'or not'.
Subsection (2) states:
''A person commits an offence if, with the intention of perverting the course of justice, he seeks to influence a barrister or solicitor to whom the Director has under section 36(2) assigned the institution or conduct of any criminal proceedings in any decision as to whether to institute or continue those proceedings.''
I hope that it is not merely a piece of semantics to say that the use of the word ''whether'' without the phrase ''or not'' is bad drafting. I am quite sure that the Minister's intention is that the decision is whether or not to institute or continue those proceedings. I dare say that the Minister will tell me that the word ''whether'' implies ''or not'' within it. However, I think that it should be spelled out in the Bill. It does no harm and it makes it clear that it applies to both the positive and negative acts.