The claimant had been convicted at trial, and release after a successful appeal but after considerable time in jail. He now comlained of the judge’s conduct at trial saying that misdirections amounted to bad faith.
Held: The claim failed. Mitting J said: ‘If I were to attempt a partial definition of bad faith, it would be that the judge was acting for a purpose ulterior to her judicial function. For my part, I doubt that summings-up of yesteryear which would now be categorised as grossly unfair, fall into this category, because for all of the criticisms that might be made of the judges, they were at least trying to fulfil their judicial duty.
In my judgment, the claimant’s case gets nowhere near establishing that Judge Kershaw acted in bad faith.’
Judges:
Mitting J
Citations:
[2014] EWHC 3995 (QB)
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Cannock Chase District Council v Kelly CA 1978
Megaw LJ set out a definition of ‘bad faith’: ‘I would suggest – that it seems to me that an unfortunate tendency has developed of looseness of language in the respect – that bad faith or, as it is sometimes put, ‘lack of good faith,’ means . .
Cited – In re McC (A Minor); McC v Mullan HL 1984
The House considered the immunity from suit of judges. The Magistrate here had passed a custodial sentence on a minor without complying with a statutory provision which required him to inform the offender of the right to Legal Aid.
Held: The . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Webster v Lord Chancellor CA 14-Jul-2015
The claimant appealed against rejection of his allegations against his trial judge of bad faith. He had been convicted at trial, but later released.
Held: The appeal failed. The allegations made that errors of approach of a Crown Court judge . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice, Human Rights
Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.541558