WHY NATIONAL REGISTRATION HAD TO GO
| Author | H. O. DOVEY |
| Date | 01 December 1987 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1987.tb00676.x |
| Published date | 01 December 1987 |
CORRESPONDENCE
WHY
NATIONAL REGISTRATION HAD TO GO
Professor Bradley’s article ‘Why National Registration had to
go:
the Judges’
contribution’ (Vol.
65
(2)
p. 209) may have left readers under a misapprehension
concerning some aspects of the de Villiers Committee Report.
Firstly, although it was not relevant to its recommendations, the committee did
in fact mention the interest of the police in their power to require the production
of identity cards. In paragraph 12 its report reads: ’The Home Office and the
Scottish Home Department tell us that, while the system is not indispensable, the
Police find it useful and they would wish to retain the power to call for the
production of Identity Cards
so
long
as
it remains in being.’
Secondly, there was no way in which the evidence from the two Home
Departments and the committee’s views could have been influenced by the Willcock
case. That case came up in 1951. The committee submitted its report in February
of the previous year and the views of the Home Departments it quoted reflected
the position at that time.
Finally, Professor Bradley refers to ‘the Home Office member of the de Villiers
committee’. There was none. The committee was a small one, on which no major
user was represented. The chairman came from the Ministry of Works and the
members from the Commonwealth Relations Office, the Treasury, the Lord
President’s Office and the Board of Trade.
H.
0.
DOVEY
Thetford,
Norfolk
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