For UK citizens, on the spot fines would be contrary to the 1689 Bill of Rights which cannot be overridden by an ordinary Act of Parliament, including the Road Safety Bill. However, if 'on the spot' fines were offered as an alternative to a trial in court, then they might be legal for UK citizens.
HJ
|
For UK citizens, on the spot fines would be contrary to the 1689 Bill of Rights which cannot be overridden by an ordinary Act of Parliament, including the Road Safety Bill. However, if 'on the spot' fines were offered as an alternative to a trial in court, then they might be legal for UK citizens.
Absolutely right, but isn't that the case with all on-the-spot fines in the UK? The question surely is whether that applies to on-the-spot fines elsewhere in the EU
|
|
|
For UK citizens, on the spot fines would be contrary to the 1689 Bill of Rights
Ahem, for English men, perhaps, and then only if there was no right of appeal; certainly not for "UK Citizens," which is a non-existent and category and a contradiction. Mostly the English Bill of Rights is not what it's made out to be; a crucial exclusion is Catholics, for instance, regardless of citizenship. It is also quite specific to the rights of parliamentarians, being designed to protect parliament from the crown. In the document parliamentarians "embody" English men; English men themselves are in a rather more shadowy place. Though the American Founding Fathers partly based their Constitution on the English Bill of Rights, they were also very careful to give rights to citizens specifically, rather than legislators or legislature, though they did that too. All of which is to say, I wouldn't put much hope in this as a defence.
|
And here it is.
www.constitution.org/eng/eng_bor.htm
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
And here it is. www.constitution.org/eng/eng_bor.htm
Except that's the Bill of Rights as passed in 1689, not as it stands now. One part of it was repealed in the mid-90s, to allow Jonathan Aitken to fight (with "sword of truth! ahem) his libel case against The Guardian newspaper: the bit which says "That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament".
I dunno how much else was repealed, but here's an intersting exercise. Next time you are in your county library, ask to be shown to the shelves containing a legal publication calle "Statutes in force". It's a huge, multi-volume thing (20+ thick volumes), and it contains a copy of every statute in force, as amended.
Look for Magna Carta: pretty much all of it has been repealed, mostly during the 19th century. I don't recall checking to see how much of the Bill of Rights has been repealed, but these days the Human Rights Act 1998 is much more relevant to most people
|
|
|
|
|
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/fc8d5aaa396b844550aafd1dd5657c52/d6773cab48c576b027b0654146b4cfa0.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/5335da84afe4d82714913da5f0e170b5/d0172d4a18cfcd424155384f8ffe9421.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/f9ee884092a774699c2d29d1cce3b713/abf4b4d49a548031b21a361142f8ddf0.jpg)
:no_upscale():format(webp)/https://cdn.uk.prod.group-mobility-trader.com/images/cas/c54b904540b6d5383323876c42f4f3f2/b6ef9466592d1df02e9b0d006e113c5a.jpg)
