What Should We Do About Carter-Ruck?

John Hall

I wouldn't bet on it. Let's see what answer the Demon Headmaster actually gives us as to the numbers and their justification(s). And who was the J that granted the injunction? Will any action be taken against him or will all those lawyers begin to squeal about the independence of the judiciary as they guard their prerogatives in their comfy little closed shop.

BegbiesEvilTwin

It's scandalous. Perhaps the senior people from the NUJ should show some leadership and attend Thursday's flashmob.

Enbee Moore

But this appears to have had nothing to do with libel law. They weren't saying the question wasn't true.

mac

John Hall:

I made pretty much the same point on the main CH 'Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice' blog earlier today: who was the judge and what's his 'record'? And who might have had a private word with him prior to his granting this injunction?

A disturbing episode.

Oh and Mr Bright, isn't it a bit late for you to be discovering virtue in traditional English freedoms and protocols after 12 years of your party trampling all over them whenever it's politically advantageous?

Brian

I take the glass half full approach - there is no evidence (yet) that this represents a nadir. While people are rightly outraged that Carter Ruck tried to prevent publication of a parliamentary question, there is still relatively little attention given in the UK media to the now common-place super-injunctions or the role of libel tourism in supressing freedom of expression in this country.

David

This is completely misdirected. It is the job ofa lawyer to use the tools available for the benefit of their clients (although whether their clients ultimately benefitted from this saga is debatable). The real issue is the existence of super injunctions where one is unable to even report that the name of the party who obtained the injunction. This process should be banned and firms such as Carter Ruck will then not be tempted to use them.
My understanding from the ubiquitous Johsua Rozenburg this morning is that there was an existing super injunction and the Guradian asked if reporting the question fell within it. Not quite the same as trying to prevent freedom of speech in Parliament. If accurate it is also wrong to say that any Judge granted any such injunction. It was merely that firm's opinion that highlighting this story by reporting the question fell within it. There was no judicial determination to that effect.

David Bouvier

Sounds like contempt of Parliament to me... summon Carter-*uck to the bar, summon the idiot judge to the bar, complain to the Chief Justice that the judge has discredited the judiciary by his actions, complain to the law society and bar council that the lawyers involved have discredited the profession by their actions."

bergen

I don't blame them for trying.The chilling point is that we have a Judge(who?)who appeared not to have the faintest memory of the Constitutional law he ought to have learned in his first year as a student.God help us.

wrinkled weasel

I don't really give a Carter Ruck. There is plenty of crap in the public domain to be busy with, such as the fact that a Labour Peer can kill a motorist whilst texting and driving and get off with possibly the most lenient sentence in history.

And while we are at it, what happened to Harriet "You know who I am" Harman?

Obnoxio The Clown

"What Should We Do About Carter-Ruck?"

Flay him, peel him and roll him in salt.

Sir Graphus

I've always taken the view that if you've hired Carter-Ruck, then whatever it is that was said about you is almost certainly true.

Alan Akbah

Perhaps now the "British journalistic community" will stand up to the Islamofascists and print the Danish Mohammed Cartoons.

James J

We need to distinguish between the rule of law and being ruled by lawyers.

Ken

Alan Akbah:
Well said.
When that affair first broke I emailed the Danish PM's office in support of Denmark's unwavering stand on free speech, and received a lengthy response as to why they had done so. I emailed that to Jack Straw and asked why the UK government had failed to follow suit. The response unsuprisingly, was total silence - the Islamofascists are in power.

YouCannotBeSerious!

I did wonder when the first comment criticising Muslims would appear - bravo Alan Akbah!

Taipei Exile

The Guardian is hardly a bastion of free speech purging its comment pages of anything it disagrees with.

Bill Corr

The Internet - Gawd bless it - has strengthened our liberties greatly.

Vile Swines like Carter-Ruck just can't bleedin' get away with things like they used to once.