From: "John Hurst", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>"It would appear from Chris's observations regarding the
>actions of UK Magistrates that they too are only obeying orders."
>Why you have drawn such an inference is unclear to me?. The point I was
>trying to make was that the magistrates do not interpret the intentions of
>parliament in the way the judges can when a piece of legislation requires
>clarification in the face of a specific case,
"Innocent",
And why not? The Attorney General's Practice Directions on
the interpretation of legislation are quite clear;
" In the light of the dicta in Pepper v. Hart, the following rules can be
extracted as to the professional duty of legal advisors and advocates as a
consequence of the decision;
1. In practically every case involving the construction of an enactment,
there must be a search in Hansard. This is because it is rarely possible to
be sure, without full knowledge of the background, that the Pepper v. Hart
conditions are not satisfied..."
All England Law Reports Annual Review
1992, page 386.
>and whilst precedents may be set in the Magistrates Court, they do not
carry any weight >in the way that cases dealt with in the Crown Court or
higher courts do.
It is a lay Magistrates duty to ensure that justice is done by nullifying
governmental abuses and usurpations one at a time without violence, within
the arena of the courtroom,
preventing the formation of a long chain, which unchecked, could lead to
revolution.
"...For more than six hundred years - that is, since Magna
Carta, in 1215 - there has been no clearer principle of English or
American constitutional law, than that, in criminal cases, it is not only
the right and duty of juries to judge what are the facts, what is the law,
and what was the moral intent of the accused; but that it is also their
right, and their primary and paramount duty, to judge of the justice of
the law, and to hold all laws invalid, that are, in their opinion, unjust or
oppressive, and all persons guiltless in violating, or resisting the
execution of, such laws...".
