§ Mr. CarlisleI beg to move Amendment No. 28, in page 24, line 34, leave out 'shall, if any party to the proceedings so requests' and insert:
'may, if the court thinks fit'.This Amendment arises out of an undertaking I gave in Committee to meet a point raised by the right hon. and learned Member for West Ham, South (Sir Elwyn Jones). It is to do with praying the tales. We heard many stories in Committee about what happens in various Welsh courts when jurors are thin on the ground. The purpose of this Amendment is to make it clear that the court has the discretion to pray a tales rather than it having to be done at the request of one of the parties.
§ Sir Elwyn JonesI am grateful to the hon. Member for moving this Amendment. I should make it clear that the praying of tales is not a Celtic custom and that tales is not a Welsh word. It is an ancient practice that is very occasionally revived. I welcome the Amendment because if the power exists obviously the court ought to be able to exercise it, but I hope that when the Home Office looks at the jury system and juries generally it will have another look at this. The idea of putting a rope at each end of the Old Bailey and roping in those who may be 560 standing about tales de circumstantibus to form a jury is something out of which we should have grown. I hope that some alternative arrangements will be made. No doubt they will protect counsel in future from the ignominy to which I was subjected when I was invited by the Lord Chief Justice to pray a tales without knowing whether a tales was a man or a horse.
§ Amendment agreed to.