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In Chancery: The Genesis of Micro Caseflow Management
Get PDFThis article explores an early example of subordinate judicial practice in England and Wales in which we may see some issues that later appear in the relationship between informal justice initiatives (especially alternative dispute resolution) and the civil justice system. Broadly speaking, the paper looks first at the symptoms of systemic failure in the pre-1873 system which led to the creation of the Official Referee’s office. It then considers the relevant recommendations of the Judicature Commissioners and the reasoning behind such recommendation, looking at both the macro- and the micro-levels, before exploring the referees’ diverse jurisdiction which provided a creative foundation for the evolution of interlocutory innovation. The article argues that structural realignment of the court system by the Judicature Commissioners was not sufficient in itself to eradicate all its encumbrances, but it indirectly empowered the referees to eventually bring about revolutionary procedural changes
Assessing the Efficiency of the District Courts of Pakistan—Why is Better Evaluation Needed?
Get PDFIn this article, the case is made for the need for appraisal of performance of the district courts of Pakistan from an efficiency perspective and a framework of practical tools are suggested to secure that end. It is argued that an effective appraisal system using empirical research is desirable in view of an absence of judicial accountability by democratic institutions and gaps in the internal official appraisal practice and in methods for locating the impact of the justice reform initiatives. The assessment can be done by analysing the relevant statistical data, qualitative feedback of the litigants and by comparing Pakistan’s judicial performance with countries with similar conditions. Empirical evidence available so far suggests that the court service in Pakistan is plagued with delay, vexatious litigation and abuse of court process causing suffering for the end-users. Hence, for any future reform effort to eradicate these maladies, institutionalized empirically based scrutiny of judicial performance is indispensable
The Law Commission presumption concerning the dependability of computer evidence: An invited paper
Get PDFIn this paper Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bev Littlewood, Harold Thimbleby and Martyn Thomas CBE consider the condition set out in section 69(1)(b) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE 1984) that reliance on computer evidence should be subject to proof of its correctness, and compare it to the 1997 Law Commission recommendation that a common law presumption be used that a computer operated correctly unless there is explicit evidence to the contrary (LC Presumption). The authors understand the LC Presumption prevails in current legal proceedings. They demonstrate that neither section 69(1)(b) of PACE 1984 nor the LC presumption reflects the reality of general software-based system behaviour.
Index words: Law Commission; presumption computers are reliable; software impossible to be correc
The Questioned Legality of Foreign Military Intervention in Members’ state in the Economic Community of West African States!
Get PDFA military coup in the Republic of Mali, a West African nation, leading to the resignation, arrest and detention of the democratically elected sitting president in August, 2020. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sent an envoy demanding for restoration of constitutionally order and democracy. It was in the same direction that, on the 19th January 2017, ECOWAS, launched operation ‘Restore Democracy in Gambia’ and mobilized a standby force - from six nations - to militarily intervene in a member state, if diplomacy failed to persuade former President Yayah Jammeh to step down and accept presidential elections result. This is not the first time that ECOWAS has intervened in a member country to restore democracy and provide humanitarian protection for civilians. In 1999, led by Nigeria, ECOWAS restored the democratically elected government of ex-President Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone, who had been illegally toppled by his military. This article looks at whether there is any legal basis in international law for such military intervention. Is ECOWAS acting in accordance with the African Union (AU) Treaty and its Peace and Security Protocol to restore peace and avoid grave consequences? If not, is then ECOWAS undertaking pre-emptive self-defense to avoid a spill of conflict in the region? Or yet, is ECOWAS tired of waiting for the United Nations’ (UN) permission and intervention, taking its own business seriously by enforcing democratic change of government? This article points out the very convoluted maize of international law on military intervention, rights to self-defense, humanitarian interventions and the principles of sovereignty in the wake of enforcement of the rules of jus cogens
