The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 6,1915. MAN'S RIGHT AND LIBERTIES.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 October 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 6,1915. MAN'S RIGHT AND LIBERTIES.

A liumaii derelict, when charged uiln \ugniiicy, al Napier, exercised iiis legal light and demanded trial by jury, '1 lie court oilicials, when .such decisions arc made. .sometimes try lo di.ssiiado accu.scn persons I'roiu taking tjio course, is a lot <11 legal machinery liar* lo be set

in motion betore any case can reach a •Supreiuo Court jury. The underlying principle of the right, .so far as New Zealand is concerned, is a proviso in one 01 our own statutes that any accused person may elect to lie tried Injury il lie is answering n charge whereundor he becomes liable to a tenii of •imprisonment amounting to twelve months or more. If every accused person entitled to exercise this right elected to <lo so. the Supreme Court's more important business would become congested ; and having this fact in view it is easy to understand the tacit disapproval of the Stipendiary IMafjisIrates and their clerks whenever some really minor case is taken out etf their jurisdiction hv the election of the accused person or his solicitor to have the cliarge tried by a jury. The preliminary stage becomes lengthened through the necessity oi writing in 'nil the depositions of every witness: there follows the application lor bail and the making out of hail bonds, and finally the transfer of documents to the -Supreme Court and possibly tlie calling of Stipendiary Magistrates or their officials as witnesses. .None the less, the occasional exercise h,y accused persons ol this privilege under the law lias its good points. -i privilege that lalls into desuetude becomes practically non-existent. This fact slious clearly in J'jiglish history; notably in its greatest epoch ill regard to liberty: the reign ol King Juli.il, .livcryoiie lias heard of .Magna Chariu ("The Great Charter of Liberty") but not everyone knows Unit the Great Ciiarter really was but a summarising ol right theoretically existing under -English law practice at the time when the last 01 the Angevin,s was forced to grant the Charter. The same generalisation applies to the Second Groat Charter. (the L'etition ol High us forced from King Charles U.) Our liberties and our legal rights are so many and so varied that they arc buried (so far as the public is concerned) in a general lack of knowledge as to tlieir effect and incidence.: and if, has happened in Tsew Zealand as elsewhere that people have been kept" 'ii durance (not only in pnsotis) for a greater lime than need have been had they been aware of their lull rights under the statute used to give authority for their duress. The study of statute law in regard to individual rights and liberties may prove advantageous to all who are capable o! reading the comparatively simple language in which New Zealand laws are couched: and the person who may not need the information for himself may be able some day to use it lor help of his fellows. The Courts of •justice allow no plea ol ignorance; their stand is that in theory every

person knows every provision of every statute that enlarges or restraints tlieir liberties. There is a provable interesting ami beneficial pursuit awaiting any qualified jurist who will coinpile iiiid issue a handbook setting out in clear coaci.se language the chief points and safeguards Tor the upholding of individual liberty. I'robably every man is aware of koiiio portion of his rights under the British Constitution and the law of the Dominion ; but 't is doubtful if any man (lawyer or layman) could recTfe even the purport of the main statutes affecting ■all men's legal rights. To take .mo instance: who can say (oIF-liand) whore is to be found the legal authority that compels tlio production in court ■within a .stated period (three months, -we oelieve) of any untried prisoner held for any offence whatsoever? That Magna Oharta confers the right is true--in general terms—hut The Chronicle has looked up throe historical summaries of The Great Charter without finding in any one of the summaries any indicntion of the actual time limitation to the holding of a prisoner without trial? The lack of general knowledge of this fact (even amongst lawyers) is .shown by the remark of a lawyer who was in court. at Napier when the vagrant made his election to be tried by jury : ''You'll have to wait six months lor the next sitting of the Supreme Court ir Xapier!" There an , other safeguards of men's liberty to which wo will not refer now. beyond remarking that certain appeals for trials or investiintions ore inside mandatory vrlien sued out hy people hold in duress for no actual offence —and the process may be started by flu , person himself from tin , institution that holds him. Of the form and manner for lodging such appeals there can I lie Tio doii'it in the i'lind d any int!,Higen i layman who rea<'> I'm , or«.;:■■■!■ si•■,'Jute: but who amongst i'h , lnymoii would regard the need as li* ihvii iioi'oro the Heed arose? And (lure -ire many, many other poinls ;u t'ie .':>' r ',;)<■ a flee! ing individu; , ! l : l'--i- ,, - ■'wl ■<•■ straint lhat should ' e m':"!,. 1 , -- \ n m"i.-• ■ Viierallv. '!'•• •'•• l ! ' : *'■ •■'• •■•■''!'■ 1 .■!e:-rly a irai'ie! I-.-:;!I vimd is 'tee.-' ••■!. 1 : I (ln< need is ever present.