2015-06-16 Down and out in London and Portsmouth, Part II ===================
So I go in the staff entrance (There is a separate entrance for the public. coming to watch court hearings) and I tell security that I came to attempt to exercise the common law right to inspect and copy court records.Obviously, I throw the security guys and girls off balance. They try to send me off on a hike to an office in Surrey, over half an hour by train. However, I insist that in the UK, any person has the common law right to access court records to inspect and to copy. Obviously they have no clue what I am talking about. So, I ask to talk with someone from the office of the clerk.I wait 10 min, and a kid appears. I introduce myself and give him my card. I ask for his card - he has none. His name - Saif (pretty militant Muslim name, usually stands for the Sword of Islam) but would not give me last name. His position: "Team Leader, Operations Management".I ask what is the title and name in this court of the head of the Office of the Clerk.He answers that there is no Chief Clerk any longer, only "Chief Operations Manager". This is of course typical of the fraud in the US (and in Israel): The law refers to "Chief Clerk", or "Clerk of the Court", who is charged with the safeguard of integrity of court records and process. But together with the establishment of the Administration of Courts and the fraudulent IT systems, they started referring to the clerks as "Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the court, which has no relationship to the duties of the Chief Clerk by law...I politely insisted that there must be a Chief Clerk in Old Bailey, and asked that they send somebody else, more knowledgeable. I also noted to them that on one of old the notices, posted on the wall, there was reference to the "Court Clerk".In the meanwhile, an armed security guy appeared, he worked for the Sheriff of the City of London, and was assigned with security of Old Bailey. I tried to explain that I was a non-violent, professional trouble maker... Human Rights, and all that kinda stuff. He started the usual - why don't you go to some other country where they have horrible Human Rights record, we are so good here in the UK... (in Israel, it is more explicit - they usually send you straight away to join your friends in Gaza... ) As it turned out, he was more knowledgeable than anybody else there, relative to the law. Finally, I asked him, how comes he knew all these things better than the Court employees. He answered proudly: Because I am a policeman!Next, Ian Trevor showed up, pretty clueless as well. With help from the police, we agreed that I file a written request to inspect and to copy, and they promised me a response within 5 days be email.First, Ian gave me a "Received" stamp with name of the court and name name or signature of the person who received the document (not an Israeli Ombudsman's invention...). However, after I protested, he agreed to put the seal of the court and his name and signature!Mission partially accomplished...Part III will follow...
So I go in the staff entrance (There is a separate entrance for the public. coming to watch court hearings) and I tell security that I came to attempt to exercise the common law right to inspect and copy court records.Obviously, I throw the security guys and girls off balance. They try to send me off on a hike to an office in Surrey, over half an hour by train. However, I insist that in the UK, any person has the common law right to access court records to inspect and to copy. Obviously they have no clue what I am talking about. So, I ask to talk with someone from the office of the clerk.I wait 10 min, and a kid appears. I introduce myself and give him my card. I ask for his card - he has none. His name - Saif (pretty militant Muslim name, usually stands for the Sword of Islam) but would not give me last name. His position: "Team Leader, Operations Management".I ask what is the title and name in this court of the head of the Office of the Clerk.He answers that there is no Chief Clerk any longer, only "Chief Operations Manager". This is of course typical of the fraud in the US (and in Israel): The law refers to "Chief Clerk", or "Clerk of the Court", who is charged with the safeguard of integrity of court records and process. But together with the establishment of the Administration of Courts and the fraudulent IT systems, they started referring to the clerks as "Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the court, which has no relationship to the duties of the Chief Clerk by law...I politely insisted that there must be a Chief Clerk in Old Bailey, and asked that they send somebody else, more knowledgeable. I also noted to them that on one of old the notices, posted on the wall, there was reference to the "Court Clerk".In the meanwhile, an armed security guy appeared, he worked for the Sheriff of the City of London, and was assigned with security of Old Bailey. I tried to explain that I was a non-violent, professional trouble maker... Human Rights, and all that kinda stuff. He started the usual - why don't you go to some other country where they have horrible Human Rights record, we are so good here in the UK... (in Israel, it is more explicit - they usually send you straight away to join your friends in Gaza... ) As it turned out, he was more knowledgeable than anybody else there, relative to the law. Finally, I asked him, how comes he knew all these things better than the Court employees. He answered proudly: Because I am a policeman!Next, Ian Trevor showed up, pretty clueless as well. With help from the police, we agreed that I file a written request to inspect and to copy, and they promised me a response within 5 days be email.First, Ian gave me a "Received" stamp with name of the court and name name or signature of the person who received the document (not an Israeli Ombudsman's invention...). However, after I protested, he agreed to put the seal of the court and his name and signature!Mission partially accomplished...Part III will follow...
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