Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170182
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

NAZI-TRIAL BILL HEADED FOR DEFEAT IN BRITAIN

It would be the first time in modern history that the Lords, mostly hereditary aristocrats, have rejected outright a bill passed by the elected House of Commons.

Nazi hunters are distressed, but some in the Lords argue that fair trials are impossible at a distance of up to 50 years, that the crimes were not committed on British soil, and that retroactive legislation is unjust.

The expected rejection of the bill, in a Lords vote June 4, has revived qualms about the powers still vested in this unique collection of blue-bloods, bishops, jurists and recently ennobled politicians, all of whom owe their place in the upper chamber to birth or political patronage. - Associated Press