The barrister Paul Powlesland, who has acted for climate protesters, was called to jury service last week, and made judicial history by taking an oath on the thing most holy to him – not an ancient book, but a cupful of water from his local river in north-east London:
“I swear by the River Roding, from her source in Molehill Green to her confluence with the Thames,” he said, “that I will faithfully try the defendant and give a true verdict according to the evidence.”
*blinks*
Powlesland explained that he wanted to promote the idea of the sacredness of nature, and its place in the legal system. “I hope that many others follow suit,” he said, “and animism is soon found more regularly in our courts.”
Well, you do you, Paul. I'll be hoping for more sanity in them myself.
I'm confused, I thought it was a requirement to swear the oath with hand on the Bible. If so, why wasn't he disqualified to sit as a juror?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that all lefties have mental issues.
I actually have pity for these people, waking up each morning, full of hatred for everything and having to decide where to focus the hatred on that day.
There is an alternative to swearing on the Bible and that is to Affirm.
DeleteI look forward to the furore when someone insists on sacrificing a goat to solemnise the oath.
ReplyDeleteHaving done jury service, I can confirm that it's not necessary to swear on the Bible. Swearing on the Bible, to many people, would have no more meaning or importance than swearing on a copy of the Daily Telegraph (for example).
ReplyDelete