Law Weblog

Lord Chief Justice warns of ‘mayhem’ over lack of legal aid for civil courts

Friday 30 October 2009 at 6:13 am | In News | Post Comment

Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice has warned of ”mayhem” if people involved in disputes are priced out of the civil court system because legal aid is not available. He said, ”Society should provide us with a place in which to resolve our disputes. The alternative is mayhem. The alternative is ‘If nobody else will help me, I will have to find somebody who will throw a brick through windows’ or worse.

He was voicing concerns in the legal profession that growing numbers of people are being excluded from the civil courts because the legal aid budget is being swallowed up by an ”exponential” growth in the share going to criminal cases.

The government response is to introduce means testing in the magistrates courts and to introduce it in crown courts.

News report in The Telegraph, here