Is not the effect of this that the Court of Appeal may feel obliged to allow an appeal under current law but will then consider that it has discretion to go back to consider what the law was like 30 years ago? Its members may dig back into the realms of their personal history and remember how the law stood when they were junior counsel. This is calling on the court to do an almost impossible task: to look back and to try to judge a case by the law of the time when the case was determined. Not only that, but the discretionary element—the fact that the court does not have to do that but may if it thinks it the right thing to do—breeds complete uncertainty into the system. How does the Minister deal with that?
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Thomas of Gresford
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Lords on Wednesday, 27 February 2008.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
699 c692 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2025-01-04 08:46:09 +0000
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