Lord Lane and senior judges have warned the Tory government that if they give an inch to the protesters after Birmingham and Guildford, they will be ushering in the revolution. The judges will fight to the death to preserve every inch of their ‘independence’ (irresponsibility). But wiser class warriors are urging caution. It is not a good thing for ruling class stability if everyone to the left of Bernard Levin (about 80 per cent of the population) think the judges are incompetent and that police evidence is likely to be fabricated.
Nor is it healthy for their class that so many judges were involved in the long string of recent celebrated injustices. The crusted Tory Donaldson (Master of the Rolls) was deeply implicated in the Guildford Four scandal. Lane, O’Connor, Stephen Brown – the three judges who just three years ago said the Birmingham Six were obviously guilty – are all senior men.
New judges like Igor Judge and Stephen Mitchell are also implicated in injustices. Judge prosecuted the four men wrongly convicted of killing the newspaper boy, Carl Bridgewater. Lane refused leave to appeal in that case, and, seven years later, his close friend Lord Justice Russell dismissed the men’s appeal despite a huge mountain of new evidence which plainly exculpated the convicted men.
A Royal Commission is a convenient way to push the boat out into still waters for several months while the argument goes on. In the interim Lane and some of his henchmen will slip quietly from the scene to be flattered and eulogised into retirement.
The Commission, which has some clout, may recommend some changes in the administration of justice to pull down some of the barriers behind which the judges have done such terrible deeds. The Bar’s monopoly may finally go. There will be a few minor reforms, as there have been, for instance, in the field of confessions.
But the aim of the reforms will not be to democratise the judiciary or to make it more responsible to the public. The ‘independence of the judiciary’ and the ‘rule of law’ will be kept firmly in the hands of the ruling class. The basic prejudices in favour of the police and against the people they arrest, especially if those arrested have in any way threatened the property rights of the rich, will be as fiercely protected as ever.
The principle behind the Royal Commission reforms will be that injustice must go on being done, but it should not be seen to be done quite so. Paul Foot, article April 1991, ‘Birmingham Six: Injustice Seen to Be Done’
Yes the judge made a fool of himself. Again. And then he questions my sanity. I question his. Charles Manson
The cold neutrality of an impartial judge. Edmund Burke
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers. H L Mencken, US editor, 1880-1956
What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong? William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice IV i 88, Shylock to Duke
7Heaven is above all yet; there sits a judge
That no king can corrupt. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII III i, Katherine
Judgments, value judgments concerning life, for or against, can in the last resort never be true: they possess value only as symptoms, they come into consideration only as symptoms – in themselves such judgments are stupidities. Friedrich Nietzsche
We do not judge the people we love. Jean-Paul Sartre
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. Albert Einstein
The acme of judicial distinction means the ability to look a lawyer straight in the eyes for two hours and not hear a damned word he says. Niccolo Machiavelli
Half as sober as a judge. Charles Lamb
A justice with grave justices shall sit; He praise their wisdom, they admire his wit. John Gray
Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25
Who hath made thee a prince and a judge over us? Exodus 2:14
And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. Exodus 18:25&26
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. Deuteronomy 1:17
Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. Deuteronomy 16:18&19
Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice! II Samuel 15:4
Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.
And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment. I Kings 3:16-28
Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice? Job 8:3
Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.
For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment. Job 34:4-5
The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. Psalms 7:8
Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have rusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. Psalms 26:1&2
Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Psalms 43:1
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. Psalms 119:160
For I the Lord love judgment. Isaiah 61:8
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. Ezekiel 5:8
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:5