ONE OF THE THREADS

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 28, 2 August 1921, Page 2

ONE OF THE THREADS

MARVEL OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL

FAITH IN IMPERIAL JUSTICE.

(FRSU OUR OWN COIimpOKIZNT.)

LONDON, 9th June.

When Professor J. A. Strahan. read a paper on "Federation and Confederation in the British Empire," at a University College Rhodes Lecture, Lord Justice Scrutton occupied the chair anil gave a racy description of the work of the Judicial Committee of , the Privy Council. He described this body as one of the threads, and a very odd one, "that held together the different units of the British Empire.

"If you go into a slummy little street oft" Whitehall," said the chairman, "you will find an extremely obscure door. You will then go upstairs into a not very clean-looking room, where you wilj find a horseshoe table, and four or five sometimes rather sleepy old gentlemen sitting round it, being addressed by counsel. (Laughter.) But if you sit and listen you will be amazed at the pageant that passes through that room. Indian communities come to ask tho Court to decide whether a certain god has a right to pass through the Streets of a certain Indian town witli elephants or not. (Laughter.) There comes sometimes the Commonwealth of Australia for the settlement of disputes between the States of Australia and the Commonwealth as to the exact limitations of the jurisdiction of .each. There comes very, frequently the Commonwealth of Canada, and there comes representatives from the Mauritius, Trinidad, the Cape, and every colony brings the oddest questions to be decided by that perfectly impartial and trusted tribunal. The result is that the Privy Council is known in the most obscure parts of the Empire, although the people do not know what it is. (Laughter.) There' is a story that in one, of the most obscure parts of India there was found an altar with worship goiDg on. The traveller .asked the people whom they were worshipping, and they answered: 'We do not know, but it is the great god Privy Council.' " (Laughter.) AN ILLUSTRATION OF DAILY WORK. Tho observation of Lord Justice Scrutton have inspired a leading article in the Daily Telegraph, whose writer doubts whether the Judicial Committee has ever heard a more picturesque suitor than the West African potentate who this week appears before them. This monarch is one of the Idejo White Cap Chief of Lagos, and he comes into Court in a white robe covered with a cloak of blue and gold brocade; on his head is the titular white cap granted to his ancestors two centuries since, and in close attendance upon him is borne the State umbrella. His cause concerns the rival claims of himself and the Crown to cettain land. "We are concerned not with its nature, b\it with the fact of a native of West Africa seeking justice from a little committee of the Privy Cquncil of the King of England. This is, indeed, but a striking illustration of-the daily work of this Imperial Court. 'As for the Indian story where tho people in a remote part were performing religious rites about an altar worshipping "the great god Privy Council," the Daily Telegraph hopes that all those who smile at the story have a, clear idea of the origin and functions of the Judicial Committee. That Court in its present form is not hallowed by antiquity. It is less than a hundred years old, and owes " its —existence •to Lord Brougham. His intentions in,the matter caused much uneasiness to that jealous and suspicious Clerk of the Privy Council, Charles Greville. But whatever Brougham meant, it is clear that he gave the British Empire, building perhaps better than lie knew, an institution of . tho higheßt value. Its authority is, indeed, derived not only from nineteenth cen- 7tury legislation, but from the ancient tradition of the constitution -which ascribes judicial authority to the Privy Council as representing the original Con--tinual Council of the King. From its foundation, in 1833, the Judicial Committee has been recognised and fully honoured as the final Court of Appeal for Britons and all subjects of the King-Em' peror the seas. , "Though we nre not federated, though' the ultimate political organisation of'tbe Empiro remains undetermined, while each year binds its component parts more closely, it is well we shonid remember one of the greatest bonds of union—a faith' in Imperial justice and the institution by which it is administered."