{"id":191,"date":"2009-09-25T11:04:30","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T10:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=191"},"modified":"2009-11-27T15:55:06","modified_gmt":"2009-11-27T14:55:06","slug":"acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2009\/09\/25\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\/","title":{"rendered":"Acronym Overload: the CLC on the DPP and the ECHR"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the wake of the DPP’s publication on Wednesday of guidance about assisted suicide<\/a>, the Telegraph<\/em> is reporting<\/a> that the Christian Legal Centre is considering launching legal action to halt the implementation of that guidance.\u00a0 The nub of their claim is that Lord Phillips, who had ruled in the summer that clearer guidance ought to be provided, showed in a newspaper interview in September that he was unsuitable to preside – he’d said that he felt “enormous sympathy” for terminally ill people who wanted to end their lives.\u00a0 Thus the CLC’s claim is that<\/a>:<\/p>\n

these remarks showed that Lord Phillips had allowed his personal views to colour his judgement in the Purdy case.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This, the CLC insists, is in violation of Article 6 of the ECHR<\/a>, which guarantees a fair trial.<\/p>\n

There’s a range of things that the CLC has not noticed.\u00a0 The first is that the human right to a fair trial is designed to protect… er… humans<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s not entirely clear to me that anyone’s rights were infringed,\u00a0not least because it’s not clear that\u00a0there’s anyone involved in the Purdy ruling who was in a position to have had any rights infringed to begin with.\u00a0 Second, there’s no reason at all why being sympathetic to people in Purdy’s position would have to make any difference to a judge’s ability to interpret and apply the law, any more than why sympathy for a victim of mugging makes it less possible to try a suspect fairly.\u00a0 His comments certainly do not show that his judgement was clouded; they don’t even give a reason to worry that they might<\/em> have been clouded.\u00a0 Note that Phillips didn’t say that he was sympathetic or well-disposed to Purdy’s suit; he said he felt sympathy for her and people in her position.\u00a0 That’s very different, and you’d have to be quite a monomaniac to miss that point.<\/p>\n

Oh, wait.\u00a0 This is the CLC.\u00a0 Hmmm.<\/p>\n

Third, Andrea Williams, director of the CLC,\u00a0says that<\/p>\n

\n

[j]ustice must be seen to be done. He [Lord Phillips] should be showing a clear lack of impartiality.<\/em> These are fundamental issues that affect life. They are a matter of life and death.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I suspect the idea that judges should be showing a lack of impartiality is a typo, but it’s quite an amusing one.\u00a0 Now, that justice should be seen to be done is is a long-standing principle of law: not only is it important that everyone has access to justice, but it’s also important that the justice system be transparent.\u00a0 Impoprtantly, the DPP’s guidlines contribute to this clarificatory process.\u00a0 My slight worry, though, is that the CLC has interpreted “seen to be done” as meaning that a criterion of justice is that it accord with expectations, which is simply not the case.<\/p>\n

It’s also striking that a Christian group – hell, any reasonably decent person at all – should object to a judge because he’s expressed sympathy for people in difficult circumstances.\u00a0 If your objection to a judge’s ruling is that he has elsewhere proved himself to have human feelings, then it’s not really much of an objection.<\/p>\n

(Have a look at the CLC’s website.\u00a0 It’s quite odd – note how, when the CLC wins a case, they thank God<\/a> for it.\u00a0 I’m willing to guess that they don’t blame him when they lose, though, which seems a bit unfair…)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the wake of the DPP’s publication on Wednesday of guidance about assisted suicide, the Telegraph is reporting that the Christian Legal Centre is considering launching legal action to halt the implementation of that guidance.\u00a0 The nub of their claim is that Lord Phillips, who had ruled in the summer that clearer guidance ought to […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,591],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-life-and-death"],"yoast_head":"\nAcronym Overload: the CLC on the DPP and the ECHR - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2009\/09\/25\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acronym Overload: the CLC on the DPP and the ECHR - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the wake of the DPP’s publication on Wednesday of guidance about assisted suicide, the Telegraph is reporting that the Christian Legal Centre is considering launching legal action to halt the implementation of that guidance.\u00a0 The nub of their claim is that Lord Phillips, who had ruled in the summer that clearer guidance ought to [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2009\/09\/25\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-25T10:04:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-11-27T14:55:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/25\\\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/25\\\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Acronym Overload: the CLC on the DPP and the ECHR\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-25T10:04:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-11-27T14:55:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/25\\\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"commentCount\":158,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"In the News\",\"Life and Death\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/25\\\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/25\\\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/25\\\/acronym-overload-the-clc-on-the-dpp-and-the-echr\\\/\",\"name\":\"Acronym Overload: the CLC on the DPP and the ECHR - 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