By IANS,
London: Some laws in Britain are so complex that even senior judges in the country found it hard to decipher them, a media report said Thursday.
It takes much longer for the judiciary to work out what parliament’s intention was when it passed new laws, placing “unreasonable demands” on judges’ brainpower, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Igor Judge, has said.
He attacked sentencing laws in particular for clogging up the courts, as judges and magistrates struggle to cope with the “continuing burden of comprehending and applying impenetrable legislations”, Daily Mail reported.
The delays caused by judges puzzling over laws are hurting victims and witnesses, as well as defendants, he said.
Lord Judge said he had hoped next year would involve the “quiet application of well understood and established principles”. But he added: “That will not happen.”
He pointed to new laws covering murder cases which came into force in October. The controversial change removed the defence of provocation from husbands who kill cheating wives in “crimes of passion” and abolished infidelity as a defence in murder cases.
Lord Judge said it was inevitable that some “extremely vexing questions” would arise as judges “struggle to follow the legislative intention”.
His comments came in the annual report of the Court of Appeal, which rules on whether individual convictions and sentences were unfair.
It revealed the huge increase in the courts’ workload over the last 12 months. It received 7,133 applications for appeal in the year to September, compared with 6,769 a year earlier.
Lord Judge said: “It has been another year of unremitting commitment to the administration of criminal justice. That is as it should be.”
“What remains less tolerable is the continuing burden of comprehending and applying impenetrable legislation, primarily but not exclusively in relation to sentencing.”
Last year Lord Phillips, the president of the Supreme Court, attacked the “ceaseless torrent” of new laws.
He said too much legislation had done nothing to cut crime while laying heavy burdens on judges.