§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Attorney-General if he will initiate full discussions and consultations with all interested parties before he implements the decision of the rule committee to abolish the Royal Command on the High Court writ of summons.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe rules to which the hon. Member refers are contained in a statutory instrument—1979, No. 1716—which has been laid before Parliament in the usual way.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Attorney-General why the Supreme Court Rule Committee sits in private; and why Mr. R. E. Ball was told not to discuss its decision to abolish the Royal Command on the High Court writ of summons.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe Supreme Court Rule Committee meets to consider the rules of the Supreme court. Any amending rules are laid, in the form of a statutory instrument, before Parliament. Like any other committee of the same kind, its discussions are private.
Mr. Ball was not a member of the committee but resigned his office on learning of its decision to omit the Royal Command from the form of writ. He was at no time told on behalf of the Lord Chancellor not to discuss that decision, whether before or after the publication of the proposed amendments.