ABSTRACT
The exclusionary rule afforded judges a limited means with which to supervise the largely unregulated and unspecified investigatory powers of the ‘new’ police. That some judges were rather more concerned than others to scrutinise police practices is demonstrated in a number of rulings from the period. The uncertainties of interpretation and practice were examined by the Royal Commission on Police Powers and Procedure. The Commission was set up after the public alarm occasioned by the police interrogation of Miss Savidge. The Commission focused upon three procedural devices which enabled the police to question persons in violation of the common law and the Judges’ Rules. The operation of the Judges’ Rules was withdrawn from its terms of reference when the Home Secretary, R. M. Butler, announced that as the judges had previously dealt with the matter, the right course would be to ask them to reconsider the taking of statements from suspects.
