New Clause 3
Fraud (Trials Without a Jury) Bill
6:30 pm
David Heath (Shadow Leader of the House of Commons & Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, Cabinet Office; Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
The Solicitor-General’s intervention was extremely helpful in shortening our proceedings. It is clear to me that section 45 of the original Act deals with the opportunity for parties to make oral representations to the judge, but only in the first instance, and that the provisions of section 43 are dependant on section 45, so a judge could not come to a view on the basis of an application under section 43 without taking account of section 45. Therefore, I think the point raised by the right hon. and learned Gentleman is entirely covered by existing legislation.
There remains the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s view that it should be possible to make oral representation to the Lord Chief Justice in the certification of the decision on the application. I am not entirely convinced that that is a satisfactory procedure in this instance. There may be exceptional circumstances when the Lord Chief Justice might be prepared to entertain direct applications—perhaps if a judge has misdirected himself or herself on the basis of the application—but in general, I would expect that to be dealt with by written evidence before the Lord Chief Justice.
The right hon. and learned Gentleman has raised an interesting point, but I am not sure whether I could support him if he proceeded to a Division on the motion. I should be grateful to the Solicitor-General if he gave his view on whether I have accurately described the situation.