Carter Ruck, far from being bowed after this weeks Ruck [sic], have written to the speaker and every MP in an attempt to stifle a debate in parliament, claiming that it is sub judice.
Carter-Ruck partner Adam Tudor today sent a letter to the Speaker, John Bercow, and also circulated it to every single MP and peer, saying they believed the case was “sub judice”.
If correct, it would mean that, under Westminster rules to prevent clashes between parliament and the courts, a debate planned for next Wednesday could not go ahead.
So far, the speaker is standing firm on the matter as is Evan Harris who tabled the motion.
Bercow had told MPs the previous day: “It is not sub judice under the house’s rules … There is no question of our own proceedings being in any way inhibited.”
Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP who secured next week’s debate, said: “I read with interest the letter from Carter-Ruck. I do not think that sub judice is involved here and I do not think that MPs will be deterred from discussing this case in the debate without a ruling from the Speaker, which he has not as yet indicated any likelihood of providing.”
I should bloody well hope not. Carter Ruck really are beneath contempt. It is not up to them to decide what may be debated in parliament and trying to weasel in sub judice is a pretty low trick. A low trick that tells us they have learned nothing this past week. The matter is in the public domain, so sub judice is moot at best. Have Carter Ruck not done enough to damage their client’s reputation?
Parliament is sovereign, not a fucking bunch of lawyers. The message this week was clear enough; clearly, not clear enough for this bunch of bastards.
If I was in any doubt about there being a lower life form than an MP, I have been disabused. There is; it is a libel lawyer.
Rememer that it was only a few years ago that lawyers were the lowest life form. Policitians took that crown from them not because lawyers became nice guys but because politicians got worse and lawyers are still at the same point on the scale. Plod is rapidly moving to overtake lawyers and push them into the third spot but again not because lawyers have become nice guys but because Plod have because a bunch of politicial toadies and a really useless waste of space.
All is not as it seems, apparently.
Head of Legal (http://www.headoflegal.com/2009/10/16/trafigura-and-sub-judice/) is linking to a copy of the letter. He summarises:
“First, what the letter says. To be fair to Carter-Ruck, most of the letter is not about sub judice at all, but merely an attempt to ensure the Speaker knows the full facts about what happened. That seems to me fair enough, and as a matter of interest, Carter-Ruck confirm my suspicions about what happened – there was no injunction specifically targeted at preventing Parliamentary reporting. Rather, Carter-Ruck took the view that a general order could be read as extending to Parliamentary reporting. We don’t know what was said in close detail of course, but this incident perhaps shows the importance of lawyers in these circumstances seeking instructions having advised on possible Streisand effects before adopting any potentially “Streisandable” position in correspondence with the other side. Also as a matter of interest, the letter at no point actually says it was Trafigura who applied for the injunction.”
The letter is fairly short and worth a read.
We do need changes to our libel laws and we definately need an end to “prior restraint”, the process than makes “publish and be damned” a contempt of court.
.-= My last blog ..Why can’t the Lib Dems Break Through? =-.
Fair point. However, there is the little matter of when in a hole, put the damned JCB away…