Lord Denning firmly believed that the press should have access to the courts and freedom to criticise magistrates and judges. He believed all legal proceedings should be held in public, quoting Jeremy Bentham when he said that "in the darkness of secrecy all sorts of things can go wrong. If things are really done in public you can see that the judge does behave himself, the newspapers can comment on it if he misbehaves — it keeps everyone in order".
How true is Lord Denning's reading of magistrates and judges.
A Tribunal President had to put off reading a verdict that he had reached with his "conscience intact" only after he had cleared the court room leaving only those directly involved in the case. I just think it's hogwash. Anyone with common sense would be able to tell why the "conscience intact" Tribunal President needed to have the whole court room cleared and only read the verdict towards the end of the day because by then there is no one left to witness the hogwash.How can these people entrusted by the public to sit at the bench to dispense justice fail so miserably? It is the perception that the general public no longer hold the respect they used to hold for these office bearers, they have no respect for judges or police. Having said that, I still believe, I have to believe! there are some good judges around.
To quote our very own no-nonsense former judge Datuk N H Chan "The judge who gives the right judgment but does not appear to be impartial is useless to the judicial process. After that, the judge’s whole duty or function is to decide the case according to law on the admissible evidence before him.
And what do you call a judge who does not administer justice according to law? A renegade judge? So now you know why I am so vocal when I admonish the errant judges who did not apply unambiguous law as it stands."
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of justice. ~Ayn Rand~
No comments:
Post a Comment