At its meeting on December 19, 1998, the Bar council resolved to take special note and welcome the importance of the principles of judicial decision-making laid down by the British House of Lords on Friday December 18,1998 in the Pinochet case.
The House of Lords comprise of five senior Law Lords had ruled that their earlier decision on the Pinochet case had been rendered a nullity by the participation of Lord Hoffmann. Both Lord Hoffmann and his wife had links with Amnesty International, which had been active in seeking the extradition of Pinochet for human rights violations.
The elementary principle upon which the presiding judge Lord Browne-Wilkinson upheld the objection, namely, that justice must be seen to be done underscores the importance of impartiality, and the appearance of it, in judicial decision-making.
The case further underscores implicitly the onerous task that sometimes befalls lawyers acting for their clients in raising arguments of a difficult kind, like in this case, objecting to the presence in the earlier round of a distinguished law lord as Lord Hoffmann because of his connections with an interested party. The objection was duly upheld as valid and vindicated what must surely have been a difficult decision for the objecting lawyers to make.
The Bar Council wishes to make special mention of this case, although a decision of an English court, because of its strong reiteration of these principles as mentioned above which are applicable throughout the Commonwealth.
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Conference on Competition Law (31 May 2012) Organised by Bar Council with the support of LexisNexis, this conference will take place at 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, on 31 May 2012 (Thursday). For more details or to register, please contact Vilashini Vijayan (03-2050 2095; vila@malaysianbar.org.my). Click on the link above for more details.
Talk on What Clients Want (7 June 2012) Organised by the KL Bar Practitioners' Affairs Committee, the talk, presented by Ong Eu Jin, will take place at 5:00 pm, at the KL Bar Auditorium, on 7 June 2012 (Thursday). Click on the link above for more details.
4th LAWASIA Family Law Conference, Penang (13 and 14 July 2012) Supported by Penang Bar Committee and the Malaysian Bar, this conference, themed “The New Global Family: Emerging Trends and Challenges to Family Practice”, will take place at Traders Hotel, Penang, on 13 and 14 July 2012 (Friday and Saturday). Click on the link above for more details.
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Circular No 110/2012: Seminar on Introduction to ICC Arbitration: An Insight into the 2012 ICC Rules
