The Jackson reforms are centred around economics, not justice, says Neil Hudgell
After well over nine months, enough has been said and written about the Jackson reforms but little if any attention has been given to what now seems to be a clear picture of the driving force behind these changes: civil justice for personal injury claimants is to be rationed, based upon the simple value of the claim rather than its substantive merits. The real losers are not just accident victims but all of us as we now have a second rate civil justice system.
Thou shalt not ration justice
Lord Neuberger gave a powerful speech in February 2012, part of a series of pre-Jackson lectures, curiously referred to as the Implementation Programme , where he set out the context of the reforms, citing the terrible blight of exorbitant litigation costs. He said: “Where litigation costs deny effective access to justice, this will in due course undermine belief in, and commitment, to the rule of law, and that results in the undermining of our democracy and all its modern features—health, education, and welfare.”
