Overview

Throughout the twentieth century, administrations have wrestled with allaying public concern over national disasters and social scandals. This book seeks to describe historically the use of public inquiries, and demonstrates why their methods continued to deploy until 1998 the ingrained habits of lawyers, particularly by issuing warning letters in order to safeguard witnesses who might be to blame. Under the influence of Lord Justice Salmon, the vital concern about systems and services allotted to social problems was relegated to the identification of individual blameworthiness. The book explains why the last inquiry under that system, into the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ under Lord Saville’s chairmanship, cost £200 million and took twelve and a half years (instead of two years). ‘Never again’, was the Government’s muted cry as the method of investigating the public concern was eventually replaced by the Inquiries Act 2005, by common consent a good piece of legislation. The overriding principle of fairness to witnesses was confirmed by Parliament to those who are ‘core participants’ to the event, but with limited rights to participate. The public inquiry, the author asserts, is now publicly administered as a Commission of Inquiry, and is correctly regarded as a branch of public administration that focuses on the systemic question of what went wrong, as opposed to which individuals were to blame.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sir Louis Blom-Cooper
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Hart Publishing
Weight:   0.407kg
ISBN:  

9781509906789

ISBN 10:   1509906789
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   20 April 2017
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Part I: Public Inquiries: Introduction 1. Concern for Scandals and Disasters 2. Early Beginnings: Corruption and Maladministration Part II: The Principles of Public Inquiries 3. The Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry 1966 (the Salmon Commission) 4. The Jurisprudence of Public Inquiries Part III: Bloody Sunday; Second Time Around 1998-2010 5. The Wrong Turn in 1998: A Final Dose of Inappropriate Legalism 6. The Lapse of Time: Assessment of Evidence 7. The Unexplained Circumstances Part IV: The Inquiries Act 2005 8. An Analysis of the Act of 2005: An Aspect of Public Administration 9. The Chairing of Commissions: Horses for Courses 10. Counsel to the Inquiry, Statutory and Non-statutory 11. Safeguards for Witnesses 12. Chilcot-Maxwellisation-Saville: The Problem of Delay 13. Model Inquiries: Hillsborough (1989) and Litvinenko (2015) Part V: Final Thoughts 14. Conclusion 15. Postscript-Lessons Learned, or Another Wrong Turn?

Reviews

Sir Louis has long been the Voltaire and Bentham of our days, crisp, critical, liberal and humane. Public Inquiries is another reasoned and persuasive investigation, a model of clear thinking. -- Antony Lentin * The Times Literary Supplement *

Sir Louis has long been the Voltaire and Bentham of our days, crisp, critical, liberal and humane. Public Inquiries is another reasoned and persuasive investigation, a model of clear thinking. -- Antony Lentin * The Times Literary Supplement * Simply to engage with the documented reflections of Blom-Cooper's experience makes this book worthwhile reading... While this book will appeal to those with a broad interest in public inquiries and those closely engaged with the development and operation of public inquiries, Blom-Cooper's study also speaks to a centrally important issue in contemporary administrative law: the role of law and judicial process in administration and administrative redress. -- Joe Tomlinson, University of Sheffield * The Cambridge Law Journal *

Author Information

Louis Blom-Cooper KC was a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, and has over 30 years experience in public inquiries.

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