Editorial: Secrets and laws

"Rebalancing justice", to make it fairer for victims, has become a cliche of government. It is a response to the widespread belief that criminals are too often protected by the arcane ways of the English and Welsh legal system, and by judges' attachment to abstract principles of justice over real life. Occasionally this aim has been considered more important than some of the founding principles of justice - the right to jury trials in some cases, for example, and now the right to know who is giving evidence against you, a right not just for the defendant but one without which the jury cannot do their job of weighing the evidence and judging the credibility of the witness. Yesterday the government published an emergency bill to regularise the use of anonymous witnesses, the latest move in its campaign to ensure that society's... [read full story]