RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS
NEED FOR MAINTENANCE CHIEF JUSTICE’S VIEWS If the members of the Law Society desired to maintain —and they did — the rights and privileges ci *he individual, their watchword should be “Incessant Vigilance” in respect of all that they stood for and should stand for, .said the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, in proposing the principal toast at the Wellington Law Society's diamond jubilee dinner, states the New Zealand Law Journal.
"The whole world has changed and is changing. Are your privileges worth maintaining in the future years of the society’s existence?” he said. “Are the rights and privileges of the individual worth maintaining? Of course they are. I know they are. and you all know it. “But I want to utter a word of warning. My memories of the law
go bac:K to 1d97. Occasionally I have seen indications of a departure from the strict maintenance of those rights and privileges,.which, if not carefully preserved, will in due time disappear. I refer more particularly to the rights and liberty of the ordinary individual, which it is your duty to maintain, and that of the judges to preserve.”
'His Honour then went on to deprecate the practice of opening speeches toy those appearing on toehalf of the Crown in indictable case: in the Lower Courts, whence nnliiinr should go forth to aft eel subseijuentlj the rights of an accused person wl'.ei he appeared on his trial before r jury in flic Supreme Court. His Honour said lie did not care what the practice might be elsewhere: it was wrong wherever it appeared, and i' should not bo tolerated anywhere. The Chief Justice then referred tf the questioning by police officer: without a caution of persons who to the knowledge of the police, would be charged with crime. This was t practice which should not be permitted. In conclusion, his Honour said that it was the duty of ihe judges and of tlie profession to see that any abuse that affected the rightful liberty of the individual was not tolerated,
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20039, 11 September 1939, Page 3
Word Count
341RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20039, 11 September 1939, Page 3
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