Law Weblog

Judge asks too many questions

A first instance judge is entitled to a wide degree of latitude in the way in which he conducted proceedings in his court.

In The London Borough of Southwark v Kofi-Adu [2006] CA (a housing possession case) the judge went beyond this by continually interrupting and asking questions; the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.

Although first instance judges rightly tend to be very much more proactive and interventionist than their predecessors, it remained the case that interventions by a judge carry the risk of depriving himself of the advantage of calm and dispassionate observation.