A surfeit of laws

Many commentators have pointed out the tendency for NuLabour to rush out new criminal laws, often ill-thought out and badly drafted. The result has been virtual duplication in some cases, and in a few even contradiction. Many of the laws have never resulted in charges. (NuLabour spin masters might see this as success - no charges because the law has discouraged the offence!) In fact in the last 10 years no less than 1,036 new offences have been defined which could result in imprisonment, - a new law every four days on average! Many of these would be seen as mere misdemeanours or even social nuisance in other countries.

Yesterday the former Lord Chief justice, Lord Phillips, recently stood down, raised another aspect. He complained that sentencing was now much more difficult because of the sheer number of laws. His comments came in the annual report of the Appeal Court's criminal division.

The complaint is often of sheer complexity and sub-division into categories, which causes difficulty for judges and magistrates in trying to decide appropriate punishment. Given that justice is often delayed in the preparation and administration, such complexity and volume will not help.