Hanging in the Balance

Brian P Block and John Hostettler have written many books and articles on facets of law, lawyers, politics and social history. This is their third book as co-authors.

'A masterwork':Justice of the PeaceFormer prime minister Lord Callaghan makes the following remarks in Hanging in the Balance:'The undoubted hero of the campaign was Sydney Silverman [MP]-small in stature, uptilted head, erect carriage, a quick pattering footstep and a prominent pointed beard which was almost a weapon in itself. In the Commons he always perched himself (perched is the word) on the corner seat just below the gangway adjoining the Government Front Bench, his feet hardly touching the ground. From that advantageous position he was always ready to jump to his feet at any moment. He was fearless in the face of hostility, of which there was plenty, and coupled this with great skill as a Parliamentarian and with considerable legal knowledge and practical experience, brought from his profession as a solicitor. He carried a formidable armoury that convinced many of us just back from the war in the late 1940s that hanging should go. I cannot say that until then, hanging had impinged on my thinking, and it was only when I reached Parliament in 1945 and was confronted by the need to take a position, that I concluded that hanging should be abolished. In the debates of 1948, I voted for abolition for the first time and after that decision, did so steadily thereafter, whenever the issue came before the House.'Lord Callaghan also indicates that '... it should not be forgotten that there are men who would have been hanged although they are innocent, but who are alive today because the law was changed. Members of Parliament show themselves to be only too aware of this and it is not surprising that whenever a proposal to reinstate hanging comes before Parliament, it has been rejected on every occasion by a large majority.' Capital punishment is in fact now unlikely ever to be reintroduced due to international obligations, the UK having ratified the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention On Human Rights which prohibits this form of punishment within the European Union.