The Begginning of the End for the Ban?

A major legal ruling in the U.K. has started to put right what was put wrong by the Hunting Act (aka "the ban").

Though the ban on mounted fox hunting was never really a ban (there were many loopholes and terrier work is still very much legal), it was a serious miscarriage of the law in that it seemed to suggest that people would be considered guilty unless they could prove themselves innocent -- a topsy-turvy view of the law and the kind of thing that warmed the heart of nascent fascists.

Now a High Court has ruled that merely searching for a wild mammal with dogs is not illegal, and that it is up to the prosecution to prove defendants are not covered by exemptions to the ban - rather than defendants having to show they are exempt.

Tim Bonner, of the Countryside Alliance, has called the High Court outcome 'very positive' and said: 'We have won on everything essentially. This should mean the prospect of Hunting Act offences being prosecuted will be far lower. We would expect there to have to be overwhelming evidence for a prosecution even to be launched.'
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