anton wrote:
"this is a court of law, it is not a place for legal argument"
Thats similar the words I have to use on occasion.
The last one was to someone "defending" his speeding charge with the totally fictitious defence put forward by Pepipoo of demanding to have a copy of PACE brought along to the site of the offence so that you can read it. The police always refuse, because there is no such right and as far as I know there never has been.
This defendant took the view that Pepipoo were right and the CPS, court clerk, bench and 2 defence lawyers who were watching were all conspiring to hide the truth in order to get a conviction. When he started going over the same ground for the fourth time, we took the view that the leeway extended to those who represent themselves had run out. Hence my use of the "court of law not place for legal discussion" phrase.
Its not wholly accurate but defendants almost always take the hint.
anton wrote:
We adjourned for a coffee break and the clerk came back in to tell us the magistraites were not returning.
happens occasionally. Someone may have been ill, had to leave to deal with a family emergency, found out that they know someone involved in the case, disqualified themselves for some reason (eg a colleague stood down from drink drive cases for 12 months or so after being hit and seriously injured by a drink driver), someone may have been needed to hear an urgent application (eg child protection warrant).
It could even have been a breakdown of the air con in the retiring room leading to a temperature of almost 40C - that one actually happened to me. We adjourned the case as we didn't think it was fair to decide a case when our minds were so occupied with how uncomfortable we were.