From: Jeremy Peter Howells, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
It is illegal for the police to obey illegal orders yes but
once a law is on the statute books it is not illegal to
enforce it. Remember much that was prosecuted at Nuremberg
were actions that were against the Geneva and Hague
conventions on the conduct and practice of war, however the
'Allies' also came up with some interesting legal concepts
such as 'it was illegal to wage aggressive war'. These
legal concepts were more than a little dubious even though
we were using them against people who were guilty (in our
eyes) of some pretty heinous crimes.
If the police and military in the UK (or when operating
abroad) obeyed an order which was obviously illegal (such
as to murder or torture people who were obviously
non-combatants) then the defence of 'only obeying orders'
is no defence and they would be charged as a principle in
the crime.
If the British military or police were enforcing laws that
were on the statute books and enforcing them in a
'reasonable' manner, where reasonable means they stayed
within the law as they understood it then 'obeying a lawful
order' is indeed a defence.
The agreement that the law is unreasonable is one for the
courts to decide. The police have some discretion in
enforcing the law but that is at the margins (e.g.
cautioning a driver doing 35 MPH in a 30 limit) rather
than a total interpretation of the law. Locally we have
one road that has 'accidentally' been made a 30 MPH limit
and the police must enforce that until it is amended.
Regards
Jerry
--
What _crime_ does a police officer commit (as opposed to
a disciplinary offence) if he refuses to apply a law?
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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