TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 147, 23 June 1924, Page 6

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

SIR ROBERT STOUT'S RECORD

AS CHIEF JUSTICE

INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

(BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL TO THB POST.)

AUCKLAND, This Day. Sir Robert Stout completed a quarter of a century as Chief Justice yesterday. In an interview, he expressed the opinion that the people of New Zealand are now better behaved than they used to be. There was certainly an improvement, which was ieiiected in the diminution of serjous crimes that ' were formerly prevalent. It was, true, said his Honour, that there had been ah, outbreak of burglaries and thefts, but he thought that-crime was relatively less than previously. • The war, like "other wars, was responsible-, for a mental effect upon the people, and the . temporary outbreak of crime was not unexpected, but he thought the wave was passing now." I

The debated question of unanimous verdicts being required in criminal cases before conviction can be obtained was discussed by Sir Robert, who declared that the first great reform that should be dealt with in the trial of criminal cases was that-unanimity of the jury should not be insisted upon. The present position, he said, was ridiculous. It had to be remembered that in Scotland, where the jury consisted of 15, a bare majority was sufficient, even where the charge was one of murder; nor- was unanimity required in France or Germany, or in some of the States of America. It was the English, theory that there must be unanimity, but, in. his Honour's opinion, it generally ended in justice being defeated. There had. been, cases tried two and three times where as to the guilt of the accused there could have been no reasonable doubt on the part of any reasonable persons. Sir Robert did not suggest, as had been hinted elsewhere, that juries could be got at in New Zealand, but juries were fallible people, and, in his Honour's opinion, he did not think unanimity was necessary. In the Dominion we had already abandoned a rule which had been in operation in England for centuries^-of unanimity in civil cases. .A majority verdict of 9 against 3 was now accepted, and he thought that even 7 against 5 was sufficient, both in civil and in criminal cases. He pointed out that there was power to order a new trial if the .verdict was against the weight of evidence. Tbafc was a safeguard.

EVILS OF GAMBLING AND DRINK.

"There are several evils in our midst; one is gambling and another is drink," continued the Chief Justice. "If we could get rid of gambling and drink, we could get rid of at least one-third of our crime; but our people apparently do not think so, and the responsibility rests on them. At least onethird of the criminals who come before the Prisons Board attribute their failure to drinking, but I think the gambling is -worse. In the olden days there were fewer race meetings and very little bookmaking, and they had not the totalisator, which is simply legalised gambling. People went to race meetings then to meet their chums and to pass a day of remembrance with them. Now they go to races to gamble and not for any sport at all, for I do not call gambling sport, but rather the curse of sport. I have not been to a race meeting since 1888," added -Sir .Robert, with a smile of satisfaction.

STATUS OF THE BAR,

In answer to a query as to the status of the New Zealand Bar, Sir Robert expressed regret that it was not compul-. Bory for all barristers to qualify by examination. He thought that any man worth his salt could easily qualify, and that the present method of becoming a barrister by virtue of the fact that a man had practised as a solicitor, for rive years had a tendency to lower the profession. The amalgamation of solicitor and barrister, • which did not exist in the English and Scottish Courts, was a, development which was the result of local circumstances, and he did not think it was detrimental either to the public or to the legal profession. There were always certain lawyers who specialise in the various branches of the law.