IICSA begins hearings on the Church of England, Ireland clears the way for a referendum on abortion and the President of the Supreme Court tackles the vexed question of niqabs in court. Lady Hale on religious dress The Supreme Court website has posted the text of Lady Hale’s Sultan Azlan Shah Lecture, given at Oxford in January, on religious dress and, in particular, on the vexed issue of Muslim women wearing niqab veils in court. In a nutshell: “… in this particular context, it is face coverings and not other items of dress which present the dilemma. We do take it for granted in this country that observing a person’s facial expressions, body language and general demeanour are an important part of assessing their credibility … And our adversarial trial system depends crucially on testing a witness’s evidence through cross-examination – I suspect that most advocates would find it difficult to imagine how one would cross-examine a witness whose face one could not see. Others have questioned whether that is, in fact, so – particularly as demeanour is so culturally determined. What seems shifty to us may in fact be a mark of respect in the witness. But the same expectation should be applied to all witnesses – the ingredients of a fair trial should be the same for all, regardless of their religious or other beliefs.” Commenting on Bougnaoui v Micropole SA [2017] EUECJ Case C-188/15 , she observes, in parentheses, “(I do not find it helpful to […]
