The law Courts Are for All, Not for Elysium
| Author | Gary Slapper |
| Published date | 01 October 2014 |
| Date | 01 October 2014 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1350/jcla.2014.78.5.933 |
| Subject Matter | Opinion |
OPINION
The Law Courts Are for All,
Not for Elysium
Gary Slapper*
Global Professor, New York University, Director of New York University in
London, door tenant at 36 Bedford Row
As the law applies to everyone, it must be accessible to all. The ease with
which people can use the law is a measure of a country’s civilisation. In his
seminal definition of ‘the rule of law’ in 1885, A. V. Dicey said:
It means, in the first place, the absolute supremacy or predominance of regular
law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power ... Englishmen are ruled by
the law, and by the law alone … It means, again, equality before the law or the
equal subjection of all classes to the ordinary law of the land administered by
the ordinary law courts; the ‘rule of law’ in this sense excludes the idea of any
exemption of officials or others from the duty of obedience to the law which
governs other citizens or from the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals.1
Some might have faith that powerful delinquents will always be subject
to the law. Making that point after the conviction of Andy Coulson, former
director of communications at 10 Downing Street, for conspiring to hack
phones, the Prime Minister declared ‘no one is above the law’.2 What Mr
Cameron neglected to note, however, is that because the legal aid system
has been beggared, 70 per cent of citizens are now below the law. They are
not eligible to get legal aid, but they are not factually in a position to be
able to pay for lawyers.
In Greek mythology, Elysium is the paradisiac place at the ends of the
earth to which certain favoured heroes were conveyed by the gods after
death. In a modern democracy, law courts should not be situated in a new
Elysium, they should be accessible by all.
The civil legal aid scheme began to operate in 1950 at which time it
provided 80 per cent of the population with a means-tested entitlement to
legal services. By 1973, this coverage had dropped to 40 per cent of the
population. By 2009, the eligible section had fallen to 36 per cent of the
population, and today, with further cuts, fewer than 30 per cent are
covered, so over 70 per cent of the population is not covered by legal aid.
If government had tried to end state education or health services for 70
per cent of the population, there would have been significant social
* The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
the views of New York University, 36 Bedford Row, or The Journal of Criminal Law.
1 A. V. Dicey, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (Macmillan: London, 1st
edn, 1885, 10th edn, 1959) 202–3.
2 The Times, 4 July 2014,
The Journal of Criminal Law (2014) 78 JCL 363–365 363
doi:10.1350/jcla.2014.78.5.933
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