Jarndyce and Jarndyce: the great Grasp

'NatWest has been accused of "robbing" the victims of Jimmy Savile after the bank spent more than £1m earmarked as compensation for individuals sexually abused by the disgraced television presenter.

'The bank, trustee of Savile's estate, put on hold the distribution of its assets last October in the face of impending compensation claims from individuals sexually abused by the late DJ. The move was initially welcomed by lawyers representing victims on the assumption that it would ensure that the estate could provide compensation.

'The estate was worth £4.3m, but during the subsequent six months its value has fallen to £3m, a significant reduction that has infuriated lawyers acting for the victims of one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders.

'A legal source with knowledge of the Savile estate claimed that the reason for the huge drop is because of the costs NatWest is incurring in administrating Savile's estate, including its lawyers' fees. The expenditure has triggered accusations that money destined for the victims is being depleted at an alarming rate.

'A NatWest spokesman said: "All expenses to date have been approved through the court. We are working with the legal representatives of claimants and beneficiaries to agree future costs."'

***

'You are to reflect, Mr. Woodcourt,' observed Mr. Kenge, using his silver trowel, persuasively and smoothingly, 'that this has been a great cause, that this has been a protracted cause, that this has been a complex cause. Jarndyce and Jarndyce has been termed, not inaptly, a Monument of Chancery practice.'

'And Patience has sat upon it a long time,' said Allan.

'Very well indeed, sir,' returned Mr. Kenge, with a certain condescending laugh he had. 'Very well! You are further to reflect, Mr. Woodcourt,' becoming dignified almost to severity, 'that on the numerous difficuties, contingencies, masterly fictions, and forms of procedure in this great cause, there has been expended study, ability, eloquence, knowledge, intellect, Mr. Woodcourt, high intellect. For many years, the--a--I would say the flower of the Bar, and the--a--I would presume to add, the matured autumnal fruits of the Woolsack--have been lavished upon Jarndyce and Jarndyce. If the public have the benefit, and if the country have the adornment of this great Grasp, it must be paid for in money or money's worth, sir.'

'Mr. Kenge,' said Allan, appearing enlightened all in a moment. 'Excuse me, our time presses. Do I understand that the whole estate is found to have been absorbed in costs?'

'Hem! I believe so,' returned Mr. Kenge. 'Mr. Vholes, what do you say?'

'I believe so,' said Mr. Vholes.

'And that the suit lapses and melts away?'

'Probably,' returned Mr. Kenge. 'Mr. Vholes?'

'Probably,' said Mr. Vholes.


Charles Dickens, Bleak House, chapter lxv

***

We do things more speedily now.

The Circumlocution Office

Not an estate agent

'The Circumlocution Department,' said Mr Barnacle, is not responsible for any gentleman's assumptions.'

'May I inquire how I can obtain official information as to the real state of the case?'

'It is competent,' said Mr Barnacle, 'to any member of the - Public,' mentioning that obscure body with reluctance, as his natural enemy, 'to memorialise the Circumlocution Department. such formalities as are required to be observed in so doing, may be known on application to the proper branch of that department.'

Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit


The Circumlocution Office is still extant.


John Vine, the chief inspector of immigration, said UKBA [United Kingdom Border Agency]'s programme to deal with 147,000 outstanding asylum "legacy cases" – submitted before March 2007 – was far from resolved. The asylum seekers concerned have been left in limbo for an average of seven years.

The operation to deal with them was so inefficient and poorly managed that last winter more than 150 boxes of mail, including correspondence from applicants, lawyers and MPs, lay unopened in a room in Liverpool. At its peak, there was a backlog of more than 100,000 items of post, including 14,800 unopened recorded delivery letters and 13,600 unopened first and second class letters containing crucial information and documents about cases.

The real enemy

How could the Turks appreciate the reaction in western Europe to their destruction of the first contingent of philhellenes at the battle of Peta in Epirus (1822), or to the massacre of Chios, immortalised by Delacroix? The names os Byron and Shelley, Goethe, Schiller and Victor Hugo meant nothing to the Sultan, but these were his real enemies. He was left to depend on Metternich and Castlereagh - an unequal match, as history was to show.
C.M. Woodhouse, Modern Greece: A Short History, chapter 5

Delacroix: Scenes from the Massacre at Chios

It is difficult to know where to begin with the contrasts with current times. The idea of a modern figure from 'high' literature or art commanding or even reflecting public opinion in political matters, let alone influencing the fate of nations (or would be nations) can scarcely be contemplated. Where is the modern Goethe or Byron or Delacroix? The idea of such a figure existing at all in our present culture seems remote. It is now almost three-quarters of a century since Picasso painted his picture in response to the bombing of Guernica. 

Maybe I've missed something, but now it seems to be campaigning (and possibly fund raising) by such as Bob Geldof or Bono. Yet their efforts seem more executive or political than imaginative. A few decade after Delacroix's Chios the novels of Charles Dickens anatomised the social, political and economic ills of his day, interweaving them with his imaginative and emotional energy. No-one now writing or painting or whatever seems able to perform the same much needed service for our own times.

(The Sultan might be held to have got his own back - eventually. A copy of the Delacroix was hung in the Byzantine museum in Chios in 2002 but was removed late in that year as gesture of raprochement towards the Turks. The Greek press protested. Guernica's location of course followed a different course.)

The great Grasp

'You are to reflect, Mr. Woodcourt,' observed Mr. Kenge, using his silver trowel, persuasively and smoothingly, 'that this has been a great cause, that this has been a protracted cause, that this has been a complex cause. Jarndyce and Jarndyce has been termed, not inaptly, a Monument of Chancery practice.'

'And Patience has sat upon it a long time,' said Allan.

'Very well indeed, sir,' returned Mr. Kenge, with a certain condescending laugh he had. 'Very well! You are further to reflect, Mr. Woodcourt,' becoming dignified almost to severity, 'that on the numerous difficuties, contingencies, masterly fictions, and forms of procedure in this great cause, there has been expended study, ability, eloquence, knowledge, intellect, Mr. Woodcourt, high intellect. For many years, the--a--I would say the flower of the Bar, and the--a--I would presume to add, the matured autumnal fruits of the Woolsack--have been lavished upon Jarndyce and Jarndyce. If the public have the benefit, and if the country have the adornment of this great Grasp, it must be paid for in money or money's worth, sir.'

'Mr. Kenge,' said Allan, appearing enlightened all in a moment. 'Excuse me, our time presses. Do I understand that the whole estate is found to have been absorbed in costs?'

'Hem! I believe so,' returned Mr. Kenge. 'Mr. Vholes, what do you say?'

'I believe so,' said Mr. Vholes.

'And that the suit lapses and melts away?'

'Probably,' returned Mr. Kenge. 'Mr. Vholes?'

'Probably,' said Mr. Vholes.

Charles Dickens, Bleak House, chapter lxv

Possession is nine points of the law

The UK Director of Public Prosecutions has declined to prosecute two terror suspects, Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, who, along with the more celebrated 'radical Muslim cleric', Abu Hamza, are shortly expected to be extradited to the United States.

The offences of which they are accused, in most normal senses of the phrase, 'took place' in the United Kingdom but they are connected with a website which was hosted in the United States. Babar Ahmad has been detained without charge or trial in this country since 2004 and the refusal of the authorities to prosecute Abu Hamza in this country has for many years puzzled people from the Queen downwards.

The DPP has now stated 'I have refused to give my consent to Mr [Karl] Watkin to bring a private prosecution against Mr Ahmad and Mr Ahsan for offences under the Terrorism Act 2000. The underlying evidence in support of these alleged offences is in the possession of the USA. The material provided to me in support of the proposed private prosecution has been carefully considered by a specialist lawyer in the CPS special crime and counter-terrorism division.'

Evidence seized by the Metropolitan Police in 2003 was passed, for no clear reason, by them to the United States Authorities, but now, it seems, possession of persons is more easily transferred between states (as we have seen in other contexts since the beginning of the War on Terror, or the 'Long War' as others like to call it) than is possession of evidence, and the United Kingdom authorities would like to see persons removed to the United States. The fastidious UK is these days often keen to see unsavoury characters shipped off to other jurisdictions, even some equally unsavoury, to meet their legal or illegal fates.

Mr Karl Watkin (Member of the British Empire), who holds to the Quixotic belief that British people charged with offences conducted in British jurisdiction should be prosecuted in British courts, is separately seeking permission from magistrates to bring a private prosecution that does not require the DPP's consent. Meanwhile, the most senior British judge recently expressed his anger that cases such as this should have dragged on for so many years. How things have changed since Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Why do not accused people realise that it is 'in nobody's interests' for them to pursue every last avenue avail able to them under the law? Clearly the law should change and doubtless it soon will.