Burning, burying, secrecy: Justice can’t exist in these conditions

Filed by Elara Myst

by Thomas Karat | Oct 15, 2026 In 1924, the Lord Chief Justice of England quashed a criminal conviction over nothing more than an appearance. The clerk who had sat with the magistrates while they deliberated also worked for the firm that was suing the defendant in a related civil matter. No one suggested the clerk had said a word about the case in that room. The conviction was quashed all the same. Lord Hewart held that the appearance of interference was itself enough to taint the result,