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 of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

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

Secretary of State for Justice The secretary of state for justice 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 United Kingdom. Since the office's inception ...

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 Secretar ...

, in order to overturn the judgement of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in ''

R v Davis ''R v Davis''

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...

UKHL 36 is a decision of the United Kingdom Judicial functions of the House of Lords, House of Lords which considered the permissibility of allowing witnesses to give evidence anonymously. In 2002 two men were shot and killed ...

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

Provisions

The Act abolished the existing

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

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 for the law to cease to be effective after a specified date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend it. Unli ...

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 The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (c. 25) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the law on coroners and criminal justice in England and Wales. Among its provisions are: *Preventing criminals from profiting from public ...

. 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 an Australian-British barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. Robertson is a founder and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. He serves as a Master of the Bench at the Middle T ...

, 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 a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

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 Bicameralism, 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 ...

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 othe ...

, 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