The Butterfield Report

We live in an era in which judicial enquiries have become exceedingly fashionable. When something goes badly wrong those in whom power reposes have tended more and more frequently to appoint a judicial figure to carry out what is often a protracted enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the particular disaster or significant failure which has hit the headlines. Evidence is taken from those most closely involved and thorough investigations are carried out into the general background which surrounds the events in question. These enquiries are almost always painstaking affairs as one would expect from experienced judges steeped in the independent traditions of the legal systems of the United Kingdom....