The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1889. CROOKED LAWS.
,Thkre are two important principles of justice in British law which have always been considered to be fundamental in their character, which no colonial Legislature would readily ignore, but which have, nevertheless, been set aside in Noi? Zealand. One of these is, that 110 person shall be compelled to givo evidence which might be used to convict him of a crime; and the other, that an accused person shall be deemed to be innocent until lie has been proved guilty. With regard to the first, there appears to have been a marked tendency on the part of our legislators, and especially oil that of Sir Harry Atkinson and Sir Robert Stout, to depart from what has always been considered a most wholesome principle. It will be sufficient for our purpose if w# mention the Bankruptcy Act as a measure in which a thoroughly unEnglish and inquisitorial principle has been adopted, According to it, a bankrupt must furnish all the details relating to his monetary affairs. If he has cheated anybody, he must coufesß it, and if lie should chance to have either lost or gained money by committing a murder or two, and his creditoi'B are seized with a desire to know all about it, he will find he cannot shield himself by saying, " I decline to answer the question, because, if I did, I would render royEelf liable to criminal proceedings," because they can say in reply, " You lay yourself open to prosecution by refusing to give the information wo want from you." Thus beset, he would have to cliooso the least of the two evils. It may bo very convenient to the creditor to bo able to put a bankrupt in a- corner, and show him that he is entirely at his mercy. On the same principle, all criminal proceedings, and a great many civil ones, would be greatly simplified if the accused or defendant, as the case might be. could bo put in the box and compelled to make a clean breast of everything. Our sense of justice, however, prevents us from forcing anybody to criminate himself. This being so, wo fail to seo why a bankrupt, or a witness under bankruptcy procesdings, should be treated as an exception,' If jthe principle is a good one in certain caseß between debtor and creditor, it must also .be a good one in all pjtljer actions, whether they be oivil or criminal; and if it is repugnant to our sense of justice in the one case, it must also be so in the other. Then, as to the second point, that'an accused person shall be deemed innocent until ho has been proved guilty. There has been a tendency on the
part of the Government for pome years past to throw the onus of proof on the defendant in all cases where the Crpwn is the plaintiff. The Sheep and Babbit Apts furnish an excellent illustration, If &)i Inspector under these measures lays an information ageinet any person, " tlia duty of the Magistrate to it jo . "•''vith fot'the defendant assume fori* ' - Vj, is guilty, and defendant.. ■ .'<■' "t, 4 ded an opportunity to show thai . • i ut aofeut. Ii mato tfutagWtil
cose the plaintiff has an opportunity to give evideuco in support of the charge. The case is, as a matter of fact, turned topay turvey, and the plaintiff is allowed to hear what the defendant has to say before he produces any evidence at all. We submit that there is no reason whatever why the Government' and its affairs should be placed at such An advantage over private individuals, The Orown is always possessed of the means to make its. Court cases as perfect as they can be made, without placing the defendants in such an unfavourable position. The principles of justice demand that no side shall have an advantage in trying a case, aiid we often see justicepictured blind, as an illustration of its impartiality. Justice in New Zealand may perhaps be blind; but when the one Bide has the right to put a big stono on its ond of the balance at the very outset of a trial, we are apt to conolude that its impartiality does not amount to much. Some of these days, perhaps, when our Legislature is not busy Cabinet-malting, it will find time to sweep these blemishes from the Statute Book.
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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3173, 6 April 1889, Page 2
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736The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1889. CROOKED LAWS. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3173, 6 April 1889, Page 2
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