Report to the People
Old Laws, Old Prejudices
According to 18th Century Whig politician, Edmund Burke, "bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny."
And you can see his point. What can be more distressing than, when the victim of an injustice, you find that the law does not provide redress, but champions the injustice?
Burke, of course, was writing in a time when laws sanctioned some truly discriminatory behaviour, such as denying women a place in Parliament or even a vote. Thankfully, though, times have changed and many such laws have been rightly repealed. It would be impossible, however, for any government to identify and abolish every single unfair law lying dormant on the statute books - especially when you are expected to be focussing on more pressing matters.
So, despite the fact that they have been neither needed nor used for years, some obscure laws do remain.
The Scottish Parliament has set about repealing many unjust, antiquated laws. The Convention Compliance Bill, for example, aims to tidy up Scots law to ensure that it complies with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Debt recovery is being reformed and the barbaric warrant sale laws are finally being repealed. And leasehold casualties, an old clause in long leases which allows unscrupulous landlords to demand hefty sums of money from tenants, are also on the way out.
It is clear that these laws belong in history books, not statute books and I am glad that the Scottish Parliament is helping in this modernisation process. Last week, however, the winds of change blew from a somewhat unexpected direction: the Palace of Westminster.
As you will have read in your Telegraph, the Labour Party’s candidate for the next General Election is former Clergyman, David Cairns. A long-forgotten law, however, prevents Catholic Priests or Church of Scotland Ministers from becoming MPs. This forces such people to sign away years of study and hard won qualifications. Can you imagine the outcry, said Ayr MP Sandra Osborne, if the same applied to lawyers or doctors?
Last week, therefore, a very short Bill to correct this absurd piece of legislation received its second reading in the House of Commons. Throughout the debate, the point was repeatedly made that repeal is a matter of religious and civil liberties.
This law is antiquated and ridiculous and, together with my Westminster colleague, Norman Godman, I look forward to the Bill being passed.
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