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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Decisions >> Spiers v Ruddy (Scotland) [2007] UKPC D2 (12 December 2007) URL: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKPC/2007/D2.html Cite as: 2008 SLT 39, [2008] 2 WLR 608, [2007] UKPC D2, 2008 SCCR 131, [2008] 1 AC 873, [2008] AC 873, [2008] HRLR 14, 2007 GWD 40-700 |
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David Spiers v Ruddy (Scotland) [2007] UKPC D2 (12 December 2007)
Privy Council Appeal No 64 of 2006
David Spiers, Prosecutor Fiscal Appellant
v.
Kevin Gerard Ruddy (Scotland) Respondent
Her Majesty's Advocate General for Scotland Intervener
FROM
THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY
SCOTLAND
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JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL
COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL
Delivered the 12th December 2007
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Present at the hearing:-
Lord Bingham of Cornhill
Lord Hope of Craighead
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Lord Mance
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
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Lord Bingham of Cornhill
"A member of the Scottish Executive has no power to … do any other act, so far as the … act is incompatible with any of the Convention rights …"
Mr Ruddy points to the role of the Lord Advocate as the nominal prosecutor in the criminal proceedings pending against him and submits that if, as he contends, the charges have not been or will not be determined within a reasonable time, then the Lord Advocate will act incompatibly with his (Mr Ruddy's) Convention right under article 6(1) if he continues to prosecute him, and the Lord Advocate has no power to act incompatibly.
"Once the proceedings have already gone on so long that they cannot be completed within a reasonable time, not only is the Lord Advocate infringing the accused's Convention right, but he will continue to do so all the time until the charges are determined. His is a continuing infringement. Every day that the prosecution continues is an additional day during which the accused is kept in a state of uncertainty about his fate for longer than is reasonable …"
A minority (Lord Steyn and Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe) disagreed. They did not accept that there was any continuing breach in a case where, although there had been excessive delay, a fair trial was still possible.
"since it also prevents a finding of successive violations in respect of the same set of proceedings and does not merely repair the breach a posteriori, as does a compensatory remedy of the type provided for under Italian law for example".
The court acknowledged (para 77) that different types of remedy may redress a violation appropriately; in criminal cases the length of proceedings could be taken into account by reducing the sentence in an express and measurable manner. The court found on the facts that the reasonable time provision had been breached, and found the sum of damages awarded by the Italian court to be an inadequate remedy.
Lord Hope of Craighead
"It remains for the Court to determine whether the means available to the applicant in Polish law for raising a complaint about the length of the proceedings in his case would have been 'effective' in the sense either of preventing the alleged violation or its continuation, or of providing adequate redress for any violation that had already occurred."
In Zarb v Malta (Application no 16631/04, 4 October 2006, unreported, BAILII: [2006] ECHR 1163), para 48, the Court said:
"Remedies available to a litigant at domestic level for raising a complaint about the length of proceedings are 'effective' within the meaning of article 13 of the Convention if they prevent the alleged violation or its continuation, or provide adequate redress for any violation that has already occurred.
Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Lord Mance
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury