Human rights and the cost of justice

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/nov/10/human-rights-and-the-cost-of-justice

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In her Opinion piece (We will all suffer in Gove’s war on Europe’s judges, 9 November), Zoe Williams writes: “Justice and costs cannot be pitted against one another: justice must be considered on its own terms and cost must be borne by the state that wishes to call itself just.”

But we have no more right to the best possible justice regardless of cost than we have to the best possible healthcare regardless of cost. Resource limitation is an integral part of any public service and cost considerations must necessarily influence what can be provided. The debate around legal aid focuses on denial of justice to the poor, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of taxpayers are deterred from seeking court redress because the cost is unpredictable and can be out of all proportion to the value of the dispute. To bring or defend a claim over £10,000, one must risk the roof over one’s head. It is therefore legitimate to ask why taxpayers should fund justice for the poor when it is beyond the reach of most.

Justice must be made affordable to all persons of ordinary means, not just the poor. This can only be done by changing the practice whereby lawyers are paid by the hour, without an upper limit and regardless of outcome. This is the real reason why litigation is unaffordable. If it were made affordable to the average householder, it would cost the state far less to provide it to the poor.Adrian ZuckermanEmeritus professor of civil procedure, University of Oxford

• The Tories’ attempts to fast-track a British bill of rights without proper scrutiny is a scandal of national importance. This attempt to cobble together a form of words to replace the Human Rights Act is simply a device to pander to the worst aspects of Tory isolationism and should have no place in the life of this country. The Human Rights Act protects us from discrimination on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation; it gives our patients in hospitals and care homes the right to be treated with compassion; and it protects us from the threat of an all-powerful state – here and anywhere in Europe.

David Cameron must not be allowed to go ahead with this apology of a bill. Our rights are not there to be bartered away in this bare-faced attempt to placate the Tory Eurosceptics and the Little Englanders of Ukip.David WeaverCranleigh, Surrey