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The Suit That Does Not Really Fit

Document Cited authorities 4 Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 October 2009
Date01 October 2009
DOI10.1350/jcla.2009.73.5.584
Subject MatterOpinion
JCL 73(5)..Opinion - Slapper .. Page363 OPINION
The Suit that Does Not Really Fit
Gary Slapper*
Professor of Law, and Director of the Centre for Law, at the Open University,
door tenant at 36 Bedford Row
At just after 3pm on 15 August 1998 in a busy shopping street in Omagh,
Northern Ireland, 29 people were murdered in a terrorist car-bomb
atrocity. Most of the people blown up were women and children. The
murder victims were both Protestant and Roman Catholic, and included
a woman celebrating her 65th birthday with her pregnant daughter and
20-month-old granddaughter.
No one stands convicted of this crime1. Years later, as the criminal law
was seen to be ineffective in condemning the guilty, relatives of the
victims brought a civil action. Four men and the Real IRA were recently
held liable for the homicides.2 Declan Morgan J awarded more than
£1.6 million in damages to 12 relatives of 29 people but the compensa-
tion is unlikely ever to be paid and, in any event, the action was not
motivated by money but by a quest for court justice.
Victor Barker, whose 12-year-old son, James, was killed in the attack
said:
We’ve finally achieved some justice for the families. I will never get over
the loss of my son, but I have done what I could for him and I’m proud that
I stood up for him.
He noted that in 1998 the Prime Minister had pledged to convict the
killers, leaving not one stone unturned, and added, ‘Well, he clearly did
because the families had to pick up all those stones and bring them to
court’.3
The Omagh litigation is part of a growing use of the civil process to pin
a legal judgment of liability on culprits who have not, but arguably
should have been, convicted by the criminal law. That is not an index of
a healthy legal system. The courage and perseverance of those who
brought the Omagh civil action, and their legal win, are noteworthy but
the victory is a limited one. The criminal law and the civil law have
different purposes.
The purpose of the criminal law, according to Blackstone’s elegant
...

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