| | Words in the News |
INTRO | | The collapse of the trial of two footballers has renewed debate about England's contempt of court laws. The BBC's British Affairs correspondent, Adam Brimelow, reports. |
IN FULL | |  | Listen to the report in full |
 |  |
11th April 2001
England's law on contempt of court |
|
NEWS 1 | | | Listen to the first part of the report |
| | | This is not the first time that a judge has halted a trial in England because of prejudicial publicity. But it's unusual for the case to be stopped so late in the legal process. The case centred on allegations that four men, including two well-known English footballers, Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, attacked an Asian student in Leeds city centre -- inflicting grievous bodily harm. All the defendants have denied being involved.
As the jury was deliberating its verdicts in the original trial, the judge called the proceedings to a halt, after deciding that a newspaper article about the case was potentially prejudicial. This area of law, known as contempt of court, is familiar to all properly trained journalists in England. They must avoid publishing or broadcasting any material that poses a substantial risk of seriously prejudicing a fair trial. Although the stipulations are laid out in law, the question of what constitutes a substantial risk is open to debate. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
WORDS | | prejudicial publicity: information about a case which is not given in court but which could change the jurors' opinion allegations: an allegation is a statement suggesting that someone has done something wrong
grievous bodily harm: very serious physical injury denied being involved: said it was not true that they took part
verdicts: a verdict is the decision given at the end of a trial
contempt of court: the criminal offence of disobeying instructions from the judge or a court of law stipulations: conditions: if you stipulate that something must be done, you state clearly that it must be done constitutes: if something constitutes a particular thing, you can regard it as being that thing |
|
| NEWS 2 | | | Listen to the second part of the report |
| | | The legal concept of contempt is English in origin, and has been widely adopted throughout the English speaking world, apart from the United States. But even within the United Kingdom there are differences over the way the law is applied. Scottish courts are renowned for interpreting the contempt rules more strictly than English courts.
In the United States the rules are different. There juries are sequestered, or kept in isolation, so they can not see media reports of the trial they are considering. It used to be common practice for juries considering their verdicts in England to be sent to hotels and kept away from anything that might prejudice them. But nowadays they are nearly always sent home. This case may lead to calls for the policy to be reversed. |
| | | | Listen to the words |
| WORDS | | legal: used to refer to things that relate to the law concept: an idea or abstract principle
Scottish courts: Scots law is different from English law renowned: well known
interpreting:if you interpret something in a particular way, you decide that this is its meaning reversed: to reverse something means to change it to its opposite |
|
| | | Read more and discuss the topic in BBC News Online |
|
