Clause 3 - Orders in County Court Proceedings
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
4:41 pm
Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Woking, Conservative)
I felt a little reassured by the Minister's comments on the first of my amendments but not at all by those relating to appeal. We are considering a quasi-criminal situation, and if an order is made in the magistrates court there is an appeal, I think, to the Crown court. I shall be corrected if I am wrong; I am not being corrected, so I think I am right. Those are both criminal venues. A case goes straight from a magistrate to a recorder or a Crown court judge, hearing the appeal on a Friday, with no trouble at all.
What, however, do we have in the provision before us? In proceedings in the county court an order is to be made by a county court judge, and it is extraordinary to me that an appeal against that drinking banning order must go to the High Court. I cannot see that any legal aid would be granted in the proceedings; it might be thought preposterous—not necessarily by me—to use public funds in that way for such an appeal. However, appeals to the High Court take months. Does the Minister really intend that someone who has been made subject to a drinking banning order in existing county court proceedings should have a right of appeal only to the High Court of Justice in the Strand? It is an astonishing prospect. However, having given my view, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.