A couple of JPs in Hastings supressed their own names during a routine court hearing this week. One of them later stated to the Herald that the order was made to ensure their own personal safety in the courtroom, although when questioned, admitted that they had received no threats at all.

This is rather crazy. Supression orders are generally used to protect witnesses or in some cases those charged, and indeed are often misused in this regard. But this is the first time that a judge (or JP as in this case) has supressed their own name. While the law may allow them to do this (it seems unclear from the commentary), it would appear to violate the principle that justice should be seen to be done.

The thing is, regardless of what cases the JPs are hearing, they are unlikely to involve less savoury people than those appearing before High Court or District Court judges, and their names are not supressed. If the JPs are genuinely concerned about their safety, either greater protection is required, or they can simply stop presiding at hearings. Most JPs don't preside at hearings in any case.

Anyway, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to figure out who they were. According to the yellow pages, there are only 48 JPs in Hastings, and you'd probably find that very few of them actually do court work.

Posted by Dave Bryant at 11:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)