Law and Justice.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 67, 21 June 1912, Page 2

Law and Justice.

In this paper it i-» prnpovd to consider historically the oliects o!' class liiiis or class < , (iiisriinisn<'ss on tin , part (if tIIOSO HagCS ()! il'.l- lilW k 111) \\ 11 iIS judges. Law has iilwjiys been made for the wealthy, lor the obvious unison that DM'll naturally legislate i'or tin , class with which they arc brought daily in contact, 'i'his appiie.-i with special forco to judge-mad; , I tw. ai;d it may lie w<>ll, therefore, i'or the ordinary workingman, the ''common bloke," to watch carefully Lin , )iriici'v< by which new legislation is made by judges, and, to a lesser extent, legislation made by Parliaments. M.UiNA CHART A. "We are told that ISriti-sh justice dates h;\..U u> M;igna Charla, but that ridiculously lauded pact Ih-Iwooii tho harried tyriinl, King John, and tho exploiting barons was strictly (■lass-con-scious. It ignored altogether the work-ing-class, hut it provided that: "No free man shall be imprisoned, outlawed, or dispossessed of land except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by tho law of the land." In other words, the barons and their allies wen- not to be robbed or molested hv tho king, except in accordance wiMi certain rules of the game, but either the barons or the king could rob the serfs or unfreo men without interference by the classcon scions law. THE JUDGES CONTINUE) THIS EVIL JJUT PERFECTLY NATURAL TRADITION. Tho common working-man has not many personal friends on the judicial bench. Hie ideas can only reach tho judicial sages in a roundabout way. All through the middle ages the. fudges were the obsequious tools of the kings, and judicial murders were as common then a« bad law and rotten arbitration decisions are to-day. These judges were not particularly maligniuit men, but they were, class-conscious. The common bloke who is writing this screed never heard that tho judges protor tod anyone against the ruling tyrants of the Tudor period. Later on, under the Stuarts, urged by the progress and pressure of public opinion, an occasional ease occurred where the judge sot himself against the Crown. if, for example, he was a Puritan, he sympathised with his follows, in their struggle against the Crown. Rut even then his action was principally influenced by the fact that the middle classes to which he belonged were in danger. 1 ,, 0r centuries the .judges tolerated slavery, and it is well for the workingclass, now struggling to be free, to note carefully that although (his damnable institution had <>xisted for centuries, THE DECAY OF SLAVERY WAS DUE TO ECONOMIC AND NOT TO JUDICIAL CAUSES. As Win wood I'emlo nays in his famous hook, "Tho Martyrdom of Man," "Slavery had existed in England and had died out of itself in what manner and in what time no one could precisely say." In de Gihbins' '"Industrial History," the opinion is expressed that the institution of slavery became unsuitable to new conditions, and therefore died out. Wage-slavery, however, remains to this day, and will remain until the workers organise economically and industrially. No sketch of the history of tho judges would bo complete without reference, to THE INFAMOUS JEFFRIES. Judge- Jeffries was a famous shining light under the later Stuarts. He hanged all opponents of the Crown impartially. Those wlio upheld law and order at the time must b;ive regarded him as a model, lie occasionally browbeat the witnos.-si's and the accused in a manner of which the style of presentday New Zealand magistrates in the Defence. Act cases is perhaps faintly reminiscent. \V<; all knew .something about the author of the "Pilgrim's

Class-conscious Judges Have Done Little or Noticing to Protect Civil Liberty.

Progress" in our youth, r.id w*\ remember the style in which one of the judges of the day handled poor ltuiiyan. Perhaps it was .leilries Imnaeli who addressed poor Itunyun thus: Judge: "Thou niiiuga!» heretic, why dost thou disturb tiie pc:we of this kingdom 1 J " Prisoner: ''I have dotie m> wrong in tins " Judge: "Away with him for interrupting the court in tJlm manner." Wret'4i, thou desn-vo.st the gallows." in Now Zealand THE MAGISTRATES HAVE NO BUSINESS to issu; , moral homilies to people who are at least as moral as themselves, and who are perhaps a shade more conscientious. Jt i* aafo to say that the. only judge who appears to have taken a strong stand in favor of civil liberty l>eforo the l!)th century was Lord Mansfield. On several occasions he showed himself to be independent not merely of the Crown, but oven of popular opinion when matters affecting civil liberty won? involved, but as if to make up for his good example towards tho end of the ISfli century the judicial liench in Ireland was disgraced by ciie reptile and profligate brutality of Toler, who afterwards became Lord Norbury. This inhuman monster was a perfect tool of the Government. And just as this creature was a danger to the public, so are all those magistrates and judges who owe places, promotions, increases and perquisites to tho government of the day. Tn New Zealand the magistrates depend upon the Government. We liave seen one judge rewarded with some thousands of pounds, in addition to his judicial salary, for consolidating the statutes.-Would he have got this extra job had he been unfriendly to the Government? Ft is not suggested that he is corrupt, but the principle is a had one all the same. An Arbitration Court judge who uid not givo satisfaction to the employing class would probably have a short term of office. All those factors tend to make judges class-conscious, ro why should not the workers recognise the fact and become conscious of the needs of themselves and of Uk> war which they are carrying on against tho whole of the exploiting class?