Court of Appeal: looks at court interjections (Hadi Jamaldeen v A-Z Law Solicitors)

Table of contents

• Practical implications
• Court details
• Facts
• Judgment

Article summary

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that a judge may interject in the course of hearing a trial in order to assist with his understanding of the case; indeed it is not only reasonable but necessary to ensure that the best justice is dispensed. Although such interjections may occur during the evidence of one side more than the other this does not inevitably make the judge bias towards either if at all times his points are reasonable in understanding the issues at play. Where the line must be drawn is that a judge should not ‘descend into the arena’ and an advocate must be allowed to make his case without ‘undue interruption’. In this case, the Court of Appeal found that the recorder had conducted the trial entirely fairly and no criticism of bias was warranted.