Top judge urges court to be last resort in rows

The country’s highest-ranking judge has said the courts must be a ‘backstop’ for resolving civil disputes when all other options have been exhausted. Chief Justice Frank Clarke said mediation and other “diversion programmes” should be attempted first.

“The courts must always be the backstop,” he said. “If people have rights, they are entitled under the Constitution and under international rights instruments to go to court and have those rights vindicated, but that doesn’t mean that that has to be the only route by which problems can be resolved.