killmicrosoft
09-09-2009, 10:58 PM
http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?t=5162
INTERESTING IF THEY ARE WHAT THE CLAIM
I'm a lawyer.
You can't sue "the government" because it's not a legal person. You can sue the Home Office, or the police, or the Labour party, if you have grounds.
To sue anybody, you need to have a cause and you must be directly interested, i.e. directly affected by the mismanagement. Have you made a loss, or suffered injury? Then you would need to show that the mismanagement was deliberately intended to harm you. You would probably find the case thrown out at that stage.
Even if you could, their defence would be that they are democratically elected - the electorate knew what they were planning and elected them anyway. The fact that you (or I, or anyone) thinks privately that they're making a hash of it is irrelevant. Our remedy is not in private action (suing) but in voting them out at the next election.
Which is why I said
Quote:
You can't sue "the government" because it's not a legal person. You can sue the Home Office, or the police, or the Labour party, if you have grounds.
I sue the Home Office on a fairly frequent basis, mainly for HRA breaches. Smile
However, you can't sue "the Blair government" for introducing a measure you disagree with, however odious it may be. Otherwise, No2ID and other campaign organisations would have no need to exist - you could just sue.
Hex - I think you would have extreme difficulty proving that a manifesto is a contract!
Zorrodp has hit the proverbial nail on the head with:
Quote:
The only real recourses are to vote the bastards out at the next election or, possibly, for the Commons to impeach an individual minister or member before the High Court of Parliament.
INTERESTING IF THEY ARE WHAT THE CLAIM
I'm a lawyer.
You can't sue "the government" because it's not a legal person. You can sue the Home Office, or the police, or the Labour party, if you have grounds.
To sue anybody, you need to have a cause and you must be directly interested, i.e. directly affected by the mismanagement. Have you made a loss, or suffered injury? Then you would need to show that the mismanagement was deliberately intended to harm you. You would probably find the case thrown out at that stage.
Even if you could, their defence would be that they are democratically elected - the electorate knew what they were planning and elected them anyway. The fact that you (or I, or anyone) thinks privately that they're making a hash of it is irrelevant. Our remedy is not in private action (suing) but in voting them out at the next election.
Which is why I said
Quote:
You can't sue "the government" because it's not a legal person. You can sue the Home Office, or the police, or the Labour party, if you have grounds.
I sue the Home Office on a fairly frequent basis, mainly for HRA breaches. Smile
However, you can't sue "the Blair government" for introducing a measure you disagree with, however odious it may be. Otherwise, No2ID and other campaign organisations would have no need to exist - you could just sue.
Hex - I think you would have extreme difficulty proving that a manifesto is a contract!
Zorrodp has hit the proverbial nail on the head with:
Quote:
The only real recourses are to vote the bastards out at the next election or, possibly, for the Commons to impeach an individual minister or member before the High Court of Parliament.