Howzat? 
Stephen Sedley
- The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial by John Langbein
- Archbold: International Criminal Courts edited by Rodney Dixon, Richard May and Karim Khan
Three hundred years ago an Englishman charged with, say, robbery could expect to be interrogated by a local magistrate, held in jail until the King’s justices next rode in on circuit, arraigned before a jury of local property-owners on an indictment he had never seen, and tried in less than an hour. He would not be allowed legal representation even if he could afford it. He had no right to give sworn evidence in answer to the witnesses who – as the saying was – were swearing away his life. He was allowed to question them as best he could and then tell the jury from the dock why he was innocent. Nobody would tell the jury that he was presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, because that was not the law. There was effectively no appeal. If convicted, he would probably be hanged before the judge rode on to the next assize town.
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Stephen Sedley is a lord justice of appeal for England and Wales and president of the British Institute for Human Rights. He gave the 2007 Mishcon lecture at University College London under the delphic title ‘Bringing Rights Home: Time to Start a Family?’
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