Lord Justice Davis gave an intriguing insight into the role of the judiciary to Sixth Form students, introducing and explaining various issues that arose in a broad spectrum of cases throughout his tenure as a barrister and judge. Lord Justice Davis gave three examples of cases that caused numerous conflicts to arise and proceeded to interact with the students, questioning their thought process and views on the issue.
The first challenging case concerned a 19-year-old, whose strong religious beliefs prevented her from receiving a blood transfusion, when this was essential for her survival. This raised issues such as whether the wishes of her family should be ignored in favour of her personal wishes and beliefs; in addition to the question whether she was in the right frame of mind to make the decision.
The second was to do with the visa expiry of a Bangladesh citizen who married a British woman, who later produced a child. The issue was that the Bangladesh citizen’s visa had run out. This raised the question of whether he should be allowed to stay in the UK because he now had a family, or whether, per the law laid out by Parliament, he should be deported.
Finally, Lord Justice Davis gave an example of a possible ‘murder’ case he was in charge of, where the husband killed his wife when she was suffering from motor neurone disease. This raised the question as to whether this act was ‘murder’ or ‘manslaughter’, due to the diminished responsibility the husband could have while attempting to cope with his wife’s illness.
Overall, Lord Justice Davis gave an incredibly thought provoking lecture, where his excellent presentation skills and interaction with the students made the talk a very worthwhile event.
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