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There seems to be no area of our lives, whether public or private,that is not subject to the scrutiny of the 'Equality People' Yet, no one ever defines Equality. So, how will we know it when we see it? Is it definable? And are the principles of equality, however we define them, attainable?.Is the ever extending range of government regulation over our lives 'progress'Or,are we on the road to totalitarianism. Are we hindered or helped in our quest for rights and justice through membership of the E.U., U.N.,e.t.c. or, would a strengthening of our own Parliamentary Democracy serve us better. This Blog will comment on equality and related issues with the hope of making some small contribution to the debate. Feel free to post your opinions and share your thoughts and experiences. That way we can get a better idea of how we, the little people really feel about things. And,just maybe,we might even influence the debate!

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Magna Carta Bank Holiday 15 th June 2015

Eleanor Laing, Conservative MP for Epping Forest, has introduced a Private Members Bill (SO No 23 ) in a bid to make 15 June 2015 a bank holiday, to celebrate the 800th anniversary of  Magna Carta.You can read the full statement here . There is also an E petition calling for the same, along with making St George's day and Trafalgar day  public holidays.You can read it and if you wish, sign from here

I fully support this aim and I hope every one gets behind it to make it a success.The campaign might if we are lucky, stimulate a long overdue debate about the meaning of this document and what it means for modern times. Do the principles still guide justice? governance?. How many of us even know what those principles are or,  have even heard of Magna Carta.

It will be interesting to see how many MPs support the campaign to celebrate Magna Carta but who nevertheless, supported the Criminal Justice Act(2003) which came into force 2007. This act, amongst other things destroyed the principle of trial by jury, a major clause of Magna Carta. Trial by jury prevents the group who bring the prosecution i.e the state from deciding the soundness of the case against the defendant. Over in Northern Ireland the principle was eroded in the 1970s when dealing with terrorism. The Diplock Courts as they were known, were finally abolished in 2007.  However, special provisions for the province  were introduced to continue the practice of jury-less trials.

Another  major principle established by Magna Carta is that of the presumption of innocence. It defends against arbitrary power which  puts people in the position of having to prove innocence to annul a penalty rather than the state having to prove you guilty before they impose it. Do we still have this protection? The campaigning and research group Crime and Society Foundation  doesn't seem to think so. In its research on Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs) introduced in 2003. . it found that;   "PNDs operate outside the traditional realms of criminal justice, thus bypassing key protections afforded to members of the public accused of an offence. As such,PNDs erode justice in the name of speedier punishment" You can read the report here

We can only hope that interesting times are ahead.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 April 2012 at 07:29

    you link to the report by ther crime and society foundation doesn't work.Hope we get another holiday though

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elizabeth17 April 2012 at 08:58

    Sorry about that. Apparently, none of the links are working as they should. I will check it out and try to re-set them

    ReplyDelete

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