Transcript

Elish Angiolini:

The work of the courts is important because the court is the forum in which the problems which people have in society can be resolved, where they can seek a remedy.

Openness and accessibility, if I deal first of all with openness, it is important that what takes place in our justice system is something which is understood and conveyed to the public at large in order that they can understand that the laws are being applied and how they're being applied and that justice is operating, and to have an understanding of what is at the heart of our constitution and our society.

So far as accessibility is concerned, there is no justice, justice is denied, if you can't have access to the courts. And indeed, the European Convention on Human Rights requires countries to provide accessibility. That it shouldn't be something that is an illusory right, a right that's not practicable. And therefore, given that it's so expensive if you want to go to court to sue someone or to achieve a remedy, it's very important that there is funding that supports that for individuals.

And in Scotland, legal aid does provide it to support people who wish to go to court in certain circumstances. However, sometimes it can still be very difficult to achieve that. And I think we have to as a community ensure that what we do provide by way of support, financial support, to individuals is adequate to ensure that that right, that openness and accessibility is something that is real and not an illusory notion that we talk about, but in fact that people can go to court to seek the remedies that they wish.

The Rebuttable presumption is that justice will always take place in an open atmosphere. The courts are public, and people can come in. And on occasion, the cameras are now being allowed into the court. Our Supreme Court, for instance, is televised. The video recordings are available to the public to watch thereafter.

The reality, however, is that court proceedings are not terribly exciting to most people. What you see in television, television drama, you will have a whole case taking place in 30 minutes, when in fact the reality is that will have taken place perhaps over two weeks. So it doesn't move at the pace of an interesting justice drama, and therefore there are not always courtrooms populated with packed benches of people wanting to hear the outcome of a trial. Occasionally that happens when it's a dramatic outcome. But having the public understand what's taking place in the courts is a really important part of our democracy.

There are occasions, however, where you need to modify that. So if a very vulnerable witness is giving evidence, for instance in a sexual case, the courts will be clear to the public, and representatives of the press can be present and the lawyers will be present while the individual gives her evidence. And there may be cases where, for instance, the evidence is so sensitive you have a member of the security services giving evidence, and there identity has to be protected. And they may give evidence from behind screens in order that their identity is protected.

So there are occasions where there is an exception to that rule, but that's one which is very closely guarded to ensure that it doesn't expand and that the presumption will always be that justice will be open.