Justice Is Fallible

It always surprises me how much confidence people place on the verdicts of the courts.

The justice system is a human construct and so subject to error, both of fact and reason.

Professor David Taylor is spot on in his letter to the Telegraph regarding so-called expert witnesses:

Sir - Judge Thorpe (letter, July 20) recognises the failure of the way that expert witnesses are treated in this country, but not the cause of the failure.

The fault lies not with insufficient expertise on the part of the witness, but in the fact that even the best experts can be wrong. I very much doubt if Prof Roy Meadow would have failed Judge Thorpe's tests.

The answer is that expert witnesses must be treated like any others, and be subject to challenge. It is true that this can lead to undesirable contests, but even so, this is preferable to the present system.

Prof David Taylor, Scarborough, N. Yorks

Council Pygmies Oppress Giants

Brian Culbert and his wife Fiona wish to extend their house in Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire. Mr Culbert is 6 ft 10 in and Mrs Culbert is 6 ft. As they keep banging their heads on the ceiling and doors, they want their extension to have a higher ceiling.

But, after 18 months, the council has refused them planning permission, Councillor Peter Argyle saying if they allowed it because the Culberts are above average height,

Then in theory that would open the door to anyone else who is tall getting applications approved on the basis of their height. That is just not logical.

It seems perfectly logical to me: if you're tall you need higher ceilings and doorways than if you're not.

Councillor Jenny Watson, height 5 ft, said they should just "buy a bigger house". Well thanks, Councillor Jenny Watson, perhaps you'd like to pay for it, and suffer the inconvenience and disruption too?

But perhaps councils should just stop telling people what they can and can't do with their own houses, and to their own land? The planning process is slow, expensive, and wasteful; the bureaucracy pettifogging, harsh and oppressive (and, of course, with a vested interest in itself).

Does anyone imagine the world would fall apart if the Culberts built an extension fitted for someone of 6 ft 10 in? Like hell!

If thy eye offend thee, pluck it out!