HC Deb 10 April 1968 vol 762 cc1451-2
Mr. Oakes

I beg to move Amendment No. 6, in page 6, line 14, at end insert: 'and that the clerk may, at any time when he thinks he should do so, bring any such question to the attention of the justices or justice'. I shall be exceedingly brief in moving the Amendment in the hope that, on the one hand, I shall earn the gratitude of my Scottish colleagues and, on the other hand, that it may be favourably received by my right hon. and learned Friend.

Clause 5(3) is a declaratory Clause. It does not change the law in any way, but the Justices' Clerks' Society and the Magistrates' Association felt that there should be some statutory definition of the rôle in the court of the justices' clerk. I was fortunate enough upstairs, when the Bill was considered in Committee, to have subsection (3) added to the Bill for this purpose. There was some doubt in my mind, which I expressed in the Committee upstairs, whether my own subsection went far enough to cover a clerk giving advice to his justices at any time, and not merely at their request, as the words say.

The Amendment clarifies beyond any doubt that it is the duty, the responsibility and the right of a justices' clerk to advise his justices on a point of law at any time he thinks he should do so and he can bring it to their attention.

The Attorney-General

I am happy to advise the House to accept the Amendment. It does no more than restate what is in a Practice Direction which was given by Lord Goddard when he was Lord Chief Justice in 1953. On that occasion, he said: It would be proper for the clerk himself to call the Justices' attention to the fact that a question of law does or may arise if they do not appear to be already aware of it. It would then be for them to consider whether they wanted his further advice on that question.

The Amendment establishes that proposition beyond a peradventure, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for moving it.

Amendment agreed to.

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