Justice is denied to poor people. I have lost count of the number of my clients who have not been able to start or continue their cases because of lack of money. This has led me to the conclusion that, for poor people, legal rights are largely illusory. They have no real application outside academic institutions and law firms which work for employers. A national network of Law Centres, funded by the state, would alleviate this state of affairs by providing poor people with access to free advice and/or representation.
Class justice functions when justice is done in favour of one class against another. There are many examples of this in the English legal system. One of the clearest is the concept of Crown immunity. Specifically, criminal proceedings cannot be brought against, for example, the Ministry of Defence, the Prison Service and the Royal Mint. There are many examples of the most serious breaches of health and safety laws where these departments have not been prosecuted. A partial response to these injustices would be to apply the rule of law across the board. Class justice in general, and Crown immunity in particular, clearly contradicts Dicey’s definition of the rule of law that no man is above the law.
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