No shop talk. Hades was... Tartarus. On a brighter and much less dreary note, there appears to be a new start-up hiring translators at the moment. I applied straight away, despite having no formal qualification in French. Having lived there for years and holding two degrees in classical Latin should help. I would like to think I get the job, God willing, because it will mean getting out of Hades, at least for a while (the position was listed as 'casual' - therefore it is doubtful whether there will be regular work). It would be enough to get through this course, being able to pay my university fees on time, buy the required books (and then there are silly things like rent and food to worry about, of secondary importance I suppose). It would be enough to know that I do a job which is at least loosely related to something I spent twelve years studying at university towards (even if it is a completely different language, several thousands of years removed from the language I spent twelve years studying. Surely this is not 1463 in Florence under Cosimo d'Medici: it's Dark Age Britain).
The law course is going quite well. I can't sleep for some reason, and there appears to be a mosquito in my room (this species of insect has only relatively recently migrated to the UK, thanks to global warming - previously they could not make it across the Channel. The only reason I know it's a mosquito is from its distinctive sound just before it injects you, having lived abroad for years). So, alongside reading the relevant official literature and bona fides law books, I am reading the Secret Barrister's works alongside, as a little 'light' reading. I have begun Stories of the Law and How it's Broken today, and I am pleased to say that the (anonymous) author does not employ anywhere near as many profanities in this work as he or she did in Nothing But the Truth. It is actually quite informative for a would-be barrister, as much as it is soul destroying, painting a picture of this country's legal system in stark colours. It makes me pity people like caseworkers for the CPS, police officers and all the other people in the legal profession, at the amount of stripping away and cuts to this nation's once proud legal system. To cite just a couple of examples, he or she writes that:
"Sitting at the long bench in front of me is Megan, the Crown Prosecution Service['s] caseworker, who is the court['s] representative of the prosecuting agency instructing me as their advocate to take down Mr [Defendant]. Once upon a time this would have been a CPS lawyer, but repeated budget cuts mean that there is now usually a single adminstrative caseworker covering multiple courtrooms, and rushing around to tend the demands of multiple barristers and multiple judges." (Anonymous, 2018, p.34).
On pp.180-184 he or she goes into some detail regarding these cuts and austerity measures, which have nearly crippled the courts in being able to dispense justice properly, meaning that many criminals each year get away with crimes, even when there is no reason for them to be able to escape being brought to justice. The author also highlights the parliamentary report beginning with the words 'the criminal justice system is close to breaking point' (p.14) published in 2016, in light of the legislation introduced which slashed legal aid to ribbons, thus denying justice to many of the poor.
On the up side, the author discusses very many crucial elements to the evolution and history of our justice system (many of which are being eroded as I speak) which are invaluable to a keen student of the law. For example, on p.41 the author writes:
"In 1791, in a trial at the Old Bailey, celebrity barrister [of the day] William Garrow sternly told the judge that 'every man is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty'. This was the first formal articulation of what would, in 1935, be described by the Court of Appeal as 'the golden thread' running through the web of English criminal law - the presumption of innocence, and the burden of proof. Its application in practice - that the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt."
Of the many law texts I have read so far, I do not recall this being mentioned in even one, whereas it should really be in all of them, in truth. It is anecdotes like these, and indeed insights into the criminal justice system, that make these books extremely valuable to the keen student of the law in the UK. (I make notes as I read them). I will not cite them in an assignment of course, but the author does provide end-notes in many cases, and cites statutes or (less often) landmark cases, each of which can be followed up and cited in an assignment. Good night Diary.
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