Manifesto hits the headlines
Manifestos and their content will be much in the news for the next three and a half months or so until the Holyrood elections. The Law Society of Scotland aimed to take the game to the political parties this week with the publication of its own agenda, "to clearly articulate some of the key areas where we, as a representative and regulatory body, believe action from government is required".
The Society must have been pleasantly surprised at the level of newspaper coverage it got the day following the launch, with prominent headlines even in some of the UK national papers. What is interesting is that while the manifesto sets out five key themes – public knowledge and understanding of the legal system; access to legal services and advice; a better civil justice system; good legislation; and a sustainable economy – with attendant policy proposals, most papers picked up on the legal education theme, supporting the teaching of a better understanding of the law, especially in schools.
A discussion on the same theme took place at the Festival of Politics event hosted by the Society at Holyrood last August. As emerged then, as well as in this week's leader columns, it is easy to sympathise with the view that the general public should have a better grasp of their legal rights and responsibilities than most have at present, but harder to see how the school curriculum could be adjusted so as to make a meaningful difference.
If any such programme is to have the desired broad impact, it will have to be part of the social education side of the curriculum that everyone takes, and not a minority interest certificate subject. So the question is, can you awaken a sufficient interest in and awareness of legal issues in that context? As a parent of secondary school children I know that the "personal and social education" slot in the timetable doesn't exactly fill them with enthusiasm at present, so that could be the starting point. But it will take an imaginative approach to achieve its object.
A good point made at the Festival of Politics event was that children have an innate sense of fair play, and on that basis can be taught a basic appreciation of the role of law in society. At the manifesto launch it was also emphasised that the aim was to instil an understanding of responsibilities as much as of rights, and a sense of fairness will not be reinforced without that perspective.
If, as attitude surveys appear to confirm, the main problems to be overcome are (1) ignorance of the law and legal rights, and (2) a reluctance to get involved with lawyers, there is a big hurdle ahead which will not be overcome without a concerted attempt at demystifying the whole area. This process will need a multi-faceted adult education campaign as well as something directed at the schools, and will only be achieved over time (if at all), but clearly the younger we start with people the better. At least we can now harness the power of the web, in the knowledge that people are increasingly turning there to search out legal information and advice.
A word of warning though. The headlines were favourable this week, but people's views of the law are undoubtedly going to be skewed if what they usually see in the press is a diet of "soft touch justice" or "blame the Human Rights Act". There are too many times when too many papers do their best to encourage rather than remedy public misunderstanding. Education programmes are unlikely to overcome that sort of misinformation.