Whatever else may be said about Magna Carta, it is considered to be the foundation of the constitutional right of the citizen to have access to the judicial system.
This is now under threat. The removal of large areas of law from the ambit of legal aid as a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, or the imposition of unrealistic earnings limits, have had predictably devastating consequences for those who are generally the worst off in our society and least capable of defending themselves or establishing their legal rights. Take the case of the parents, for example, each of whom had battled through educational disadvantage and whose child the local authority sought to remove from them to free them for adoption. They were unable to obtain legal aid and were therefore obliged to go it alone against the local authority, which was able to use legal professionals, paid for by the local taxpayer, against them.
