JUDGES ARE NOT ADMINISTRATORS: VIEWS FROM THE TELEGRAPH: THE STRANGE NEW CONCEPT OF "JUSTICE"

I put up a number of posts and articles in the recent articles and posts section of the blog most days.  I will, occasionally,  draw attention to a particular post.  Today I have to draw attention to the article in the Telegraph blog by cutley.  I recommend that everyone read the whole blog post

NOT JUDGE BASHING

This is far from being a “judge bashing” piece. Cutley’s view is that judges are excellent judges but hopeless administrators. Their attempts to be administrators has led to a strange new concept of justice.

WHAT IS MEANT BY “JUSTICE” IN THE POST-MITCHELL WORLD?

The piece reaches the following conclusions:-

“Indeed, they have re-defined the word “justice” in a gloriously Orwellian way. They are very cross, perhaps understandably, about litigants failing to meet deadlines set by the courts for the service of various documents. They suspect that lawyers are not treating them with the respect they reckon they deserve. They have therefore decreed that, though grave injustice may be done as a result, claims and defences to claims must be struck out whenever litigants miss deadlines, even if the error causes not a jot of prejudice to the other side in the dispute. This is to be achieved by providing a new definition of “justice”. It no longer involves producing a fair result in individual cases. That former requirement has gone. “Justice” now means something completely different. What it now means is not wholly clear, but it looks as though it means something like “judges must not be irritated”.”