Culture and Communication

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Abstract

Effective and efficient communication constitutes, by definition, the very bedrock of every legal process. Unless all the parties to the proceedings – be they prosecutors or defendants, plaintiffs or respondents, witnesses, jurors or judges – accurately understand the material put before them, and above all the meaning of the all questions asked and the answers given during the course of the proceedings in court, the due process of law is will at best be seriously impeded, and at worst be thrown seriously off course. If communications blockages directly threaten the integrity of the whole legal process, it follows that all those who take charge of processes of adjudication – whether as judges, as magistrates or as tribunal chairman – should make every possible effort to reduce the impact of such blockages. Equity demands no less. Prepared for the Judicial Studies Board, but eventually published only in a severely truncated form, this paper (the full original version) explores the challenges which linguistic and cultural plurality generate for the equitable delivery of justice in the UK.