Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

Judicial shockers ... Latest from the trouble prone Queensland branch of the Federales ... Administrative law upsets ... Sandy Street overturned ... On the level in Canberra ... Missing aged care accountant ... Law shop managing director skewered ... Ginger Snatch reports from courtrooms around the nation ... Read more >> 

Politics Media Law Society


Smoke and mirrors ... Spiritual notes … Bishop fends off claim for damages from victim of priestly abuse … How does this work? … Victoria protects politician with DV offences … An oppressive no-publication regime … Celebrity judge battles antisemitism from the gala dinner circuit ... Read on ... 

Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

It's Hitlerish ... Reelection of a charlatan ... Republicans take popular vote for the first time in 20 years ... Amnesia ... Trashing a democracy ... Trump and his team of troubled men ... Mainstream media wilts in the eye of the storm ... Depravity, greed and revenge are the new normal ... Roger Fitch files from Washington ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Change of guard at the High Court ... Richard Glenn appointed CEO and Executive Director of the Court ... The same Richard Glenn who as Commonwealth Ombudsman was birched over mishandling a report into the legality of Robodebt ... More >> 

Justinian's Bloggers

Shmagatha Shmistie 2.0 ... Another round with Vardy and Rooney ... Remote evidence from a witness - on the bus ... Brazilian magistrate looses his shirt ... CV qualifications propped up by pork pies ... Fast justice by Scissors & Paste ... Floyd Alexander-Hunt in London with the latest regrettable court-related conduct ... Read more >> 

"Today is about Dad's wishes and confirming all of our support for him and for his wishes. It shouldn't be difficult or controversial. Love you, Lachlan."   

Lachlan Murdoch's text message to his sister Elisabeth on the eve of a special meeting to discuss altering the family trust so that Lachlan would run and control News Corp and Fox News ... Quoted in the opinion of the Nevada Probate Commissioner who ruled against changing the terms of the trust ... The New York Times, December 9, 2024 ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

The great interceptor ... Rugby League ... Dennis Tutty and the try he shouldn't have scored ... Case that changed the face of professional sport ... Growth of the player associations, courtesy of the Barwick High Court ... Free kick ... Restraint of trade ... Braham Dabscheck comments ... Read more ... 


Justinian's archive

Litigation's artful delays ... From Justinian's archive ... April 22, 2014 ... Lawyers and the complexity of litigation ... Delay as a defence tactic ... Access to justice includes preventing access to justice ... Reprising the Flower & Hart saga with starring role by Ian Callinan QC ... Abuse of process ... Queensland CJ declined to intervene ... Tulkinghorn on the case  ... Read more ... 


 

 

« Forty nine years ago ... | Main | Haines blasts Temby »
Saturday
Jan012000

Forbidden sex

It was a very different world in 1989 ... In Scotland gay judges were being hounded off the bench ... Victualler at Valentine's Bar heard loose tongue flapping ... Hooker tapes Honkers prosecutor asking for underage sex ... From Justinian December 1989

Allegations about rampant homosexuality on the Scottish bench have thrown the normally tranquil, porridge-loving Scots bar into disarray.

Lord Dervaird (married wit three children) has stepped down from the bench to avoid being the subject of an inquiry, while Lord Hope, the Lord President, made a very important ruling, at a press conference in his home, no less.

He declared that "homosexuality would, of itself, be no bar to being a judge".

This ruling, believed to be the first of its kind in the common law world, will doubtless come as an immense relief to quite a number of judges in jurisdictions far from Scotland.

Apart from Lord Dervaird, the accusations concern four other judges, disconcertingly described by Lord Hope as A, B, C and D.

Judge A is supposed to have visited a "gay" bar with a junior member of the bar with whom he is reputedly "having a relationship".

An allegation that he indulged in criminal conduct with "rent boys" at Lord Dervaird's cottage at Stranaer Bay was investigated by local police at the Crown Office and found to be "without foundation".

Judge B is said to have visited a disco frequented by homosexuals in Glasgow, but "left in disgust". The Lord President was satisfied that the allegations against him were "without foundation".

Nothing is known about judge C, while judge D once shared a flat 25 years ago before he was married with either of Lord Dervaird, or judges A, B or C.

Another judge, Lord Weir (58, married, three children) admitted he had been questioned by Lord Hope about the rumours, but denied any allegation against him, and threatened to sue anyone who repeated them.

Lord Dervaird's resignation is perplexing. Homosexual practices between consenting adult males have been legal in Scotland since 1980. If he was within the law, why should he resign?

 

From the Daily Record, December 23, 1989

Alternatively, if he had done something not only scandalous, but illegal, why should he be exempt from disciplinary action? Was a deal done to protect good name of the judiciary?

Lord Denning was quoted in The Sunday Times as making the helpful remark:

"Supposing an accused man gets to hear of a judge's homosexual relationship and sends him a note saying, 'I will expose your relationship if you send me to prison'."

According to the New Statesman, homosexual members of the English bar say they are only too well aware of the immense hostility held by the civil servants of the Lord Chancellor's department towards them.

It would be almost unheard of for a barrister, whose homosexuality was widely known, to make it onto the bench.

I'm also indebted to The Independent for this explanation:

"Experience shows that for a small minority of those in public life, the pleasures of sex gain an added frisson from being enjoyed in risky or even downright dangerous circumstances."

Noel Nesbitt, the victualler at Valentine's Bar, a well known lawyers' watering hole in Edinburgh summed-up the situation:

"The lawyers' tongues are loosened when they come in here. If they have had a good day, winning a case, then it's bottles of the best champagne at ₤30 a go. That's when the stories start flying around the place. It's usually a flash flood. They have all gone in an hour or two. Presumably home to their wives."

*   *   *

It may have been the frisson that was the factor that has led to problems for the Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in Hong Kong, Christopher Harris.

Mr Harris is being prosecuted for incitement to procure underage girls for sexual purposes.

The ages of 13 and 14 seemed to be particularly exciting for Harris.

Unfortunately, a prostitute with whom Harris liked "talking dirty" wired herself to tape record the crown prosecutor's requests to procure a particularly delectable young Caucasian girl.

The DPP and the Attorney General decided to try to cover it all up and to allow Harris to resign from the Crown Prosecutors' Department.

Harris even attended a jolly farewell drinks party in the mess with all his chums.

Not long after, the taped conversations with the prostitute were leaked to Mr Murdoch's South China Morning Post.

The Post gave the story major splash treatment and after a delay of four months the Attorney General, Mr J Mathews, was forced to backtrack and have Harris charged.

Police had gathered further evidence following a raid on the prostitute's flat.

Harris was talking respectable amounts of money for these "sessions" with the young girls. About $A1,000 a pop.

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.