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United Kingdom
Courts
Family
courts go online with pilot project - 3 November
Online publication of some judgments in family cases, like
care proceedings and contact and residence cases, will be
piloted for the first time at courts in Leeds and Cardiff. The
pilots are part of a drive to help the public and the media
find out how family courts work and how decisions are reached.
- eGov Monitor
website
Countdown
to BAE court clash - 31 October
A game for the highest stakes began this weekend after the
Serious Fraud Office handed its QC the paperwork in its
bribery case against defence giant BAE Systems. BAE said that
it would face the SFO in court 'if necessary' as the countdown
started to a full-blown prosecution of the company over
allegations of paying bribes in Romania, South Africa, the
Czech Republic and Tanzania. According to the SFO, only a
guilty plea from BAE would prevent the case going to court,
although it is thought the company may be allowed to admit to
offences that stop short of corruption. - Mail
Online website
Criminal
Justice System
Bonuses
for lawyers who seize criminal assets 'risk undermining justice'
- 13 October
Crown Prosecution Service lawyers are receiving personal bonuses
linked to their success in confiscating criminal assets, The
Times has learnt. About £1.37 million has been paid in personal
bonuses to staff over the past two financial years, the CPS
disclosed under Freedom of Information legislation. It did not
say what proportion was for hitting confiscation targets, but
the disclosure will add to concern among lawyers that providing
financial incentives to prosecutors could undermine the criminal
justice system. - Times
Online website
Health
Patients'
'right' to private care - 31 October
Patients in England will be guaranteed NHS treatment within 18
weeks, with the legal right to private care paid for by the
state if that deadline is missed. The government has already
announced plans to give "entitlements" to care within
a certain time, but it is now set to enshrine those rights in
law. - BBC News website
Human
Rights
Father
fights mother over baby's life - 4 November
A baby born with a severe birth defect put its parents on
opposing sides in a British court Monday over whether to switch
off the child's life support. The mother sides with doctors and
favors disconnecting the baby's respirator. The father took the
case to the High Court in London to stop them. - CNN
website
Doctor
admits baby 'may interact' - 4 November
A doctor has agreed a baby in a "right-to-life" legal
row may be able to interact - but any mental development would
only make his fate more tragic. The paediatric neurologist told
the High Court the severely disabled child, Baby RB, would
remain in a "no chance" situation even if he developed
further. - BBC News website
The
heartbreaking case of Baby RB - 4 November
For those observing this High Court drama who are swayed neither
by religious belief, nor by a faith in the absolutism of medical
opinion that holds Baby RB as a lost cause for whom a humane
exit is the only option, it’s a tortuous intellectual and
emotional debate. - Telegraph
website
Miscellaneous
Lynne
Frederick inherited £4million as Peter Sellers died before
final divorce - 5 November
Peter Sellers had reached a final divorce settlement with his
fourth wife that would have deprived her of any claim on his
estate - but he died before the document became binding,
according to legal papers that have come to light. The
settlement, which was never made public, meant that Lynne
Frederick was expecting to walk away from the three-year
marriage to one of the world’s best-loved comic actors with £375
000 in a one-off payment and ownership of their Los Angeles
home. In the event, Sellers died at 54 on July 24, 1980, before
the divorce became final, and Ms Frederick was able to claim his
entire £4.5 million estate. His three children, from previous
marriages, were left £750 each. - Times
Online website
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