PRIVACY DESIRABLE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3939, 13 August 1937, Page 7

PRIVACY DESIRABLE

DOMESTIC CASES IN COURT. “It is commonly said, and I am sure it is true, that large numbers of people attend court in domestic cases only because they think there may be something exciting or indecent revealed there. They coftie from nothing more than morbidity and curiosity, and many people go to hear these cases who are never to be found during the ordinary business of the court. You may imagine the effect which it may have upon the parties to a dispute to have present in the court all their neighbours from the same street, to hear all the details without eny restriction at all. There seems to be no question that this unlimited attendance at the courts must stifle the speech of the applicants, or at any rate the frankness witn which they ought to present their case if they are going to put the full story before the court, as is unhappily not always done to-day. It is widely held by witnesses who gave evidence before the departmental committee that this unlimited exposure not only prevents the courts from hearing the full facts, but, what is more, prevents that conciliation between the parties which might otherwise have resulted.” —Lord Merthyr, speaking in the House of Lords on a Bill to ensure privacy for domestic cases.