JAY PEEISM. Shall It Go?

Free Lance, Volume V, Issue 260, 24 June 1905, Page 6

JAY PEEISM. Shall It Go?

IF on Monday you were a farmer, who had never read anything but a newspaper in your life, and on Tuesday you weir© a fullblofwn J P , on Wednesday your appearance to sit in judgment on your fellow-men would be accepted as evidence that you were full to. ,the forehead with legal lore. Although you need never have seen that slender, but important, tome, "The Magistrate's Court Act," and "The Justices of the Peace Act," and although you did not know any more about either than you do about the wheat-growing capacities of the soil m Jupiter, you are a J.P., and nothing — except lunacy and bankruptcy — can wrest the sceptre from your eager fingers. And, seeing that your are a J.P , you have got to administer justice You don't know anything about it, you listen, and look wise. The clerk is below you. "What does the Act say, Mr. Knibbs?" With professional ease the clerk saysi- "Five bob, or forty-eight hours, Your Worship " The clerk sentences the prisoner, although his new Worship says the final words. Sometimes the Js.P. sentence the prisoner "off their own bat," probably while the clerk is dipping his pen, and the papers come out with "More Jay Pec-ism I" "Justices' Justice l " "A Grave Miscarriage of Justice '" and all the rest of it. The peculiar thing about colonial Jay Pec-ism is that if one becomes bankrupt, or a lunatic, or deceased, there are any amount of people who dcn't know anything about law, who haven't to pass any qualifying examination, but who are willing to sacrifice their leisure toi serve their bleeding country for nothing. They may hear formal "swears," they may testify to all sorts of things which their friends, who are equally ignorant of law, may not do. » * The New South Wales Cabinet has been pondering the J.P difficulty, and they have had a list of seven hundred persons before them, ali of whom are desirous of gaming the titular distinction And the New South Wales Cabinet is thinking of wiping the Js P out of existence ' Two of the reasons given are that the creation of Js.P has led to the Bench being "packed," and to justice being thwarted Now, apart altogether from the possibility of justices being not altogether "square" — we assume that every New Zealand J.P is absolutely unbiased and quite honest— it is an anomaly that persons who, in numberless cases know absolutely nothing of magisterial duties, should have the power the appointment invests them with. Seeing that the position is evidently considered by aspirants as 1 an honour, the position should be worth qualifying for, and if the candidates cannot pass en examination, held before a bench of magistrates' clerks, with an S M as chairman, they are not fit for the said position. * # • We will guarantee to say not one new J P ma hundred has SO' much as looked at the Magistrate's Court Act, and that a simple examination such as the one suggested would "pluck" ninety per cent Obviously the difficulty of withholding the hearing of all Magistrates' Court cases until an S M could take them would be very large, but this doesn't alter the fact that Jay Pec-ism is a very flabby article Also, if justice is to be meted out, it must cost something, and must be properly done If there are any Jay Pees about who, m the absence of an S.M , are forced to take business, this is a for-

ix al acknowledgment that either th( business will be badly done, or th« J.P. ought to be promoted an S.M. * * * • Of co>ur&e, the present stipendiaries couldn't hope to worry through all the lower court caaes in the colony, and so, until the nation rises on its end, and cries for the abolition c f the amateur "beak," and the making of more stipendiaries, the chariot of justice will trundle along dependent on the advice of clerks of courts. New South Wales is on the right track in desiring to wipe the 'slate of the amateurs. The Lance will remind the public when the next bit of "Justices' Justice" or "Grave Miscarriage of Justice" happens. Perhaps the public ear will be then better attuned to the music of these words Hope so, anyhow