Mait001 wrote in article
...
My law Degree is almost 20 years old now! I got it at a time when
jury
trial
was sacrosanct, innocence till found guilty, no dentention without
trial,
Cabinet government, no restrospective legislation .... How
old-fashioned
all of this now seems!

2004 - 19 = 1985, was there a "Modern developments" (ie since 1924)
exam ?

no-jury Diplock Courts from 1972 (and the Special Court in Dublin), Sir
Oswald Mosley interned 1940-1943 and various IRA suspects in Northern
Ireland after 1964.
Doubt has been cast on whether Cabinet government really exists from
"Parkinson's Law" at least. Retrospective legislation in civil matters
since before 1914, in criminal matters see the Nuremburg trials but
(with a special exception for this) now forbidden by the ECHR.


What retrospective legislation has been passed?

Who is not innocent till found guilty?

Your first question: all legislation that criminalises conduct
which, at the
time it was performed, was not a criminal act; e.g. Sexual Offences
Act 2003,
which criminalises certain conduct restrospectively.

Your second question: the same Act is an example: people (usually
men) can now
be subjected to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order even if acquitted
of the
offence with which they have been charged. The Order can prohibit
anything from
travelling on public transport to owning or using a telephone,
camera,
computer, television: there is no exhaustive list so the Court an
literally
order anything at all.

Another example is the various money laundering and proceeds of crime
legislation that requires someone to prove that money or property
they have in
their possession is not the proceeds of crime: unless it is so proved
it is
confiscated by the State.

Customs & Excise law allowed just that (from before 1787) prove you
paid import duty on this foreign product or it is confiscated. The
American 'civil confiscation' legislation was ruled in conformity with
their constitution because of this.

And, under the new proposals, we will all be deemed "non persons"
until we can
prove, by production of an identity card, who we are.

National Identity Cards 1939-1950

Have a word with your Bar Council Chairman (New or old, both seem to be
"sound bite and run" folks) about the obvious need for more continuing
professional education especially wrt 20th Century history.

--
Mike D