Madam, - Your report (October 30th) on my remarks on Mr Justice Carney's suggestion that the crimes of murder and manslaughter should be combined into a single offence of unlawful homicide is accurate insofar as it states that the Law Reform Commission, of which I am a member, is opposed to any such merger of the two offences.
But it is inaccurate insofar as it implies that I was speaking on behalf of the commission when I expressed the view that it is inappropriate for judges to make public pronouncements on controversial matters of criminal policy. On that point I was expressing a personal opinion based on my understanding of the principle that judges should be seen to be impartial and, consequently, should avoid making statements that might compromise that perception.
In my opinion, a judge who has expressed strong abolitionist views, especially when these appear to be grounded in considerations of administrative convenience, has exposed himself to the risk of being perceived, however erroneously, as potentially biased in cases where the prosecution declines to accept a plea of guilty to manslaughter. - Yours, etc.
FINBARR McAULEY, Jean Monnet Professor of European Criminal Justice, University College, Dublin.
Madam, - Viewed from across the Irish Sea, the criticism made of Mr Justice Paul Carney by a member of the Irish Law Reform Commission seems strange. British judges frequently make proposals for law reform whether in their judgments or in public lectures. It has not been suggested in recent times that this is in any way against the public interest. To the contrary, their contribution is valued both by the British Law Commissions and by the wider public.
I do not understand why it was "entirely inappropriate" for Mr Justice Carney to have expressed his views in his talk to the Law Society in NUI Galway. They seem to me to be entirely sensible and I doubt whether any Law Reform Commission has a monopoly of wisdom. - Yours, etc.,
LORD LESTER OF HERNE HILL QC, Blackstone Chambers, Blackstone House, Temple, London EC4Y 9BW.