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The Changing Role of the Judge in the Criminal Process

Document Cited authorities 23 Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 April 2010
Date01 April 2010
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1350/ijep.2010.14.2.345
Subject MatterArticle
CHANGING ROLE OF THE JUDGE IN THE CRIMINAL PROCESS
The changing role of the
judge in the criminal
process
By His Honour Judge R. L. Denyer QC
Cardiff Crown Court
Keywords Judicial case management; Judicial role; Criminal procedure; Judicial
intervention
Judicial case management
n 1957, in Jones vNational Coal Board,1Lord Denning stated that the
role of the judge was to ‘hearken to the evidence’—how far we have
come!
The idea of judicial case management was in the air prior to the coming into force
of the Criminal Procedure Rules. In RvChaaban, Judge LJ said:
The trial judge has always been responsible for managing the trial.
That is one of his most important functions …
We must also consider whether the case was somehow rushed, a
submission which gives this court the opportunity to highlight a
significant recent change, perhaps less heralded than it might have
been, that nowadays, as part of his responsibility for managing the
trial, the judge is expected to control the timetable and to manage the
available time. Time is not unlimited. No one should assume that
trials can continue to take as long or use up as much time as either or
both sides may wish … The entitlement to a fair trial is not incon-
sistent with proper judicial control over the use of time.2
doi:10.1350/ijep.2010.14.2.345
96 (2010) 14 E&P 96–106 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF
I
1 [1957] 2 All ER 155 at 159.
2 [2003] EWCA Crim 1012 at [35]–[37].

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