Domestic Gases and the Public

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21256, 30 August 1934, Page 8

Domestic Gases and the Public

Yesterday a deputation from the National Council of Women urged upon the Minister for Justice, Mr Cobbe, the desirability of excluding the merely curious from magistrates' courts during the hearing of affiliation, maintenance, and separation cases. Mr Cobbe's reply was a model of good sense. Legislation to exclude the general public in such cases might, he pointed out, have unforeseen and undesirable effects; but magistrates already had power to clear courts at their discretion and he would suggest to them a more frequent use of this power in domestic cases. This seems to meet the position adequately. The publicity of court proceedings is one guarantee of good justice and a fundamental principle of the British legal system. To make a deliberate exception to that principle by a legislative act is a step which should be avoided if possible. On the other hand, hearings of domestic cases, as many who are familiar with the courts can testify, often attract spectators whose only interest in the proceedings is an unhealthy interest. Though it is not easy to bring such cases within a legislative category, a magistrate would have no difficulty in deciding when exclusion of the public was desirable. The presence of representatives of the press and of the legal profession would be quite sufficient to safeguard the public interest.