Bishop talks up partnerships as key to ending anti-social activity

The Bishop of Ely, The Rt Revd Stephen Conway, yesterday reflected on the implications of the summer riots in many parts of England at the 2011 Legal Service in Ely Cathedral celebrating the 650th anniversary of lay magistracy.

The Bishop suggested that it was possible to “prevent anti-social activity by building the right kind of partnerships across every community, taking everyone seriously as adults or children, even when they have stepped beyond what is acceptable and good.”

Putting the 650th anniversary firmly in a historical context, Henry II and his successors understood that their legitimacy as rulers came from God and that this was expressed in their vocation as a law-giver.

Bishop Conway told his congregation of legal practitioners, emergency service personnel and academics that the keeping of the law is about common consent and that recent events in England had reinforced this basic notion: “We all know, however, this [defending and enforcing the law] is all by consent. The recent riots showed how immediately vulnerable our law enforcement can be when that consent is withdrawn by any significant group of people, even though order is soon restored.”

He added: “Every society lives with the fact that there are some people who behave in a sociopathic way, who do not believe that the usual expectations of the community apply to them. Others are so completely alienated and angry that they want their own back on society. Others, for whatever reason, live in such chaos that law and boundaries are irrelevant to them, as much to their own harm as the harm to the property or wellbeing of others.”

The Bishop was also concerned about economic cut backs and their effects on the legal profession: “Every area of our public life is affected by financial constraints, which we see happening in the rationalising of the number of courts and the decision to use more district judges rather than enjoy so many lay magistrates. It is my hope and prayer that seriousness about the financial constraints is matched by wisdom about what is required in building the community partnerships upon which a healthy, law-abiding and merciful society depends. Edward III understood about making economies.”

Those who served as lay magistrates, were according to the Bishop, examples of consent being turned into adult participation: “Healthy and generous societies are always also ordered communities, in which those who lead govern with the active consent and participation of those who are governed. We expect to be treated as grown-ups and the challenge is then to behave as grown-ups. Magistrates are among those who demonstrate how to turn consent into adult participation.”

Many representatives of the legal profession were present for the service which followed a lunch served at the Cathedral.

3rd October 2011