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Judge
attacks pro hunt march ban
A
JUDGES SHOULD not be banned from joining the Countryside Alliance
march, planned for September 22nd. in protest against “prejudiced
attacks” on hunting, according to a senior member of the
Court of Appeal.
Lord Justice Aldous, a past master of foxhounds, said he “resented”
advice given last year by Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice,
that it would be “wholly inappropriate” for judges
to take part in “quasi-political” events such as the
Liberty and Livelihood March, postponed from last year.
While agreeing to follow this advice, Lord Justice Aldous said
he wanted his friends to know that his absence from the march
would not imply any lack of support for its aims.
The Court of Appeal judges were told at a meeting in April last
year that the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls and
the heads of the Chancery and Family divisions of the High Court
took the view that judges should not take part in activities
such as Countryside Alliance marches, “nor be seen to affiliate
themselves with such public expressions, no matter how strong
their personal convictions or point of view”.
Disagree
According
to confidential minutes of the judges’ meeting, Lord
Justice Aldous disagreed with the advice.
Last week, Lord Justice Aldous, 67, who was master of the
Essex and Suffolk hunt from 1970 to 1976, said he did not
see any reason why judges should not take part in a lawful
march.
The Countryside Alliance says that marchers will call on the
Government to “safeguard rural people from prejudiced
attacks on hunting with dogs and all other field sports”.Lord
Justice Aldous said he would never sit in a case in which
these issues might arise.
In advising judges not to take part before the march was postponed
because of foot and mouth last year, Lord Justice Woolf said
they might find themselves in an embarrassing position “should
public order issues arise”.
Lord Justice Aldous said: “If the march was going to
be a demonstration where violence was going to take place,
then clearly I would not wish to be associated with it. But
a lawful march is completely different.”
He agreed that judges should not be actively involved in party
politics. “But I don’t see this as political.”
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