§ 2.35 p.m.
§ EARL JOWITTMy Lords, I beg leave to ask Her Majesty's Government the Question of which I have given private notice. The Question is as follows: To ask Her Majesty's Government, with reference to Lord Goddard's Motion in the House of Lords on May 8, 1952, whether they contemplate that legislation should be introduced to grant to the Court of Criminal Appeal and to the House of Lords power to order a new trial.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD SIMONDS)My Lords, I am glad to announce that a Departmental Committee has now been set up by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary and myself to inquire into this matter. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Tucker, will preside, and the terms of reference and composition of the Committee will be as follows:
To consider whether the Court of Criminal Appeal and the House of Lords should be empowered to order a new trial of a convicted person who has appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal or whose case has been referred to the Court by the Secretary of State, and, if so, in what circumstances and subject to what safeguards.The Committee will be the right honourable Lord Tucker, Chairman; the right honourable Sir Travers Humphreys, a former Judge of the High Court of Justice; Mr. R. F. Levy, Q.C., Mr. John Bass, M.B.E., Junior Prosecuting Counsel at the Central Criminal Court; Sir Theobald Mathew, K.B.E., M.C., the Director of Public Prosecutions; Mr. Noel Leigh Taylor, M.B.E., solicitor; Mr. Francis Graham-Harrison, of the Home Office, and Mr. G. P. Coldstream, C.B., of the Lord Chancellor's Office. 988 The Secretary will be Mr. R. A. James, M.C., of the Home Office.
§ EARL JOWITTMy Lords, in view of the difference of opinion manifested in this House between the two Houses of Parliament on previous occasions, obviously any such proposal will need the most careful inquiry. I should like merely to say this: that, speaking for myself, I congratulate Her Majesty's Government on appointing an expert Committee—for this is an expert Committee—to deal with the matter, for it is surely better that any debate we may have on this subject should take place in the light of the technical advice we shall get from such a Committee.