ABSTRACT
One of the primary aims of terrorists is to make the liberal system of law unworkable by intimidating witnesses and juries. They hope thereby to have credible grounds for accusing the government of repression. It was in the face of this that trial without jury for terrorist offences was introduced in Northern Ireland in 1973 (as it already had been since 1962 in the Republic of Ireland). In Northern Ireland, however, the trial is conducted by a single judge, subject to full rights of appeal to a court of three judges. Justice would better be seen to be done if there were three judges at the trial itself, of whom two could be junior judges, stipendiary magistrates or Queens Counsel temporarily seconded from the UK, though this would necessitate prolonged personal protection thereafter. An alternative would be the CCTV technique for safeguarding the identity of jurors and witnesses (described on pp. 192–3). This is now technologically quite practical.
