The Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008 (c. 15) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It was a piece of emergency legislation and was introduced by the

Secretary of State for Justice The secretary of state for justice, also referred to as the justice secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Ministry of Justice. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the Un ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

, in order to overturn the judgement of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

in '' R v Davis'' and permit the use of anonymous witnesses in criminal trials in special circumstances.

Provisions

The Act abolished the existing

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

rules on anonymity of witnesses and replaced them with a framework in which ''witness anonymity orders'' would be granted by the Court on the application of the prosecutor or defendant. Section 2 of the Act set out the terms which could be included in such orders, such as withholding of identity, protection from certain types of questioning, and also authorises visual screening of the witness from the defendant (but not from the judge, jury or any interpreter required by the witness). Section 4 set out the conditions which had to be satisfied before an anonymity order could be made; they were *A: That the order is necessary to protect the witness, prevent serious damage to property or real harm to the public interest; *B: That the provisions of the order are consistent with the defendant receiving a fair trial; and *C: The interests of justice require that it is important that the witness testifies, and that the witness would not testify if the order were not made. The Act contained a

sunset clause In public policy, a sunset provision or sunset clause is a measure within a statute, regulation or other law that provides that the law shall cease to have effect after a specific date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend the law ...

which stated that the Act would expire on 31 December 2009 (although Parliament could authorise extensions of 12 months at a time). This was because of the emergency nature of the bill, and because Parliament was already expected to debate a new criminal justice bill before the Act expired, in which further attention was to be given to the law on anonymous witnesses. The Act was replaced by sections 86 to 97 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. Section 96 repealed most of the 2008 Act. These sections came into force on 1 January 2010.

Criticism

Geoffrey Robertson Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (born 30 September 1946) is a human rights barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. He holds dual Australian and British citizenship.

, QC argued that the Act was a " perjurer's charter," describing the proposed changes as "the most serious single assault on liberty in memory." He wrote He further argued that

's statement that the Bill conformed with the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...

was incorrect:

Legislative history

''R v Davis'' was decided by the House of Lords on 18 June 2008. The bill to overturn the Lords' judgement was introduced by Justice Secretary

on 4 July 2008. The bill received its third reading in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

on 8 July and a third reading in the

on 15 July. On 16 July, the Commons approved the Lords Amendments. The bill became effective upon

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

, which it received on 21 July.Lords Hansard
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References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2008 English criminal law Criminal law of the United Kingdom