SUPREME COURT BENCH

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 8

SUPREME COURT BENCH

APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES

SALARY AND PENSION

NEW COURT OF APPEAL,

VIEWS OF PROMINENT .MEMBERS

OF THE BAR,

The Council of the Wellington District Law Society passed the following resolutions at' its last meeting :—

(1). This council is strongly of opinion that, in order to maintain the Bench at the . necessary high standard, the position of the Judges of the Supreme Court needs revision in regard to salary and pension. (2) The fact that a member of the profession has-held a political position, however high, or holds the office of Attorney-General, should not, in the conditions existing in the Dominion, be regarded in itself as sufficient to justify his appointment to a Judgeship.

A "Post" representative to-day inter/viowed several prominent members of the New Zealand Bar ifi regard to the above resolutions. "One does not like comparing the personnel or the constitution of the Bench of to-day with that of the Bench of thirty, twenty, or ten years ago, but events during the past few years have shown that the leaders of the profession are not prepared to accept puisne Judgeships. Nobody can doubt the essential importance of maintaining the Bench' at the highest possible standard, and it is necessary to endeavour io search for the reasons for the present position. : : The truth of the matter is that this should have been done several years ago and not left till the difficulty had become intense. Each successive appointment necessarily makes the position more difficult, because it is hardly to be supposed that as time goes on, even though the conditions are improved, men at the top of the profession .will'take seats on the Bench as juniors to men who were many years their own juniors at the Bar. THE SALARY QUESTION.

The salary question, though an important one, is by no means the only question that creates the present difficulty. The salary of a puisne Jud"e is £2000 a year, and that of the Chief Justice £2250, out of which amounts incometax has to be paid. A member of the Bar is generally prepared to make a substantial pecuniary sacrifice to attain the position of a Judge, but under present conditions and those existing during the- last few years, the necessary sacrifice _.in' the case of leaders of the profession has been, and is much greater, than they could reasonably be expected to make. The truth is that, while over a period of years incomes generally have considerably increased, the income of a Judge, though it has been increased slightly, has been by no means increased relatively,' or anything like relatively, •with other incomes. The. result is that Tor practical purposes; and taking into ■ consideration the lower value of money, the financial position of a Judge must be considerably worse that it was ten years ago.

Tlio man who accepts a Jndgeship hagto give up completely his political feelings, and to a very'considerable extent, if tiic public respect and confidence are to he maintained, he must doom. him-, self to social 'isolation. While lie may bo quite prepared to make these sacrifice's he cannot well be .expected to make them if he has also to make an undue financial sacrifice. ' „'' ' JUDGES' PENSION. \-

vln r?gard,to pension. If a Judge Ims been able to s serve the full term of twenty years, the pension is no doubt a reasonable one, and leaves. nothing to compalin of. In order to obtain this full pension, a Judge must be appointed at ,an age not later than 52. years, as he has to retire compulsorily at 72. A barrister who accepts appointment as a Judge, UDless he lias ample private means, knuws, whether he is a young man or a man of middle age, that in the event of his resignation becoming necessary by reason of ill-health (or in the event of his death, there is no allowance to his widow), and in the event' of his breakdown the pension is an exceedingly jmall one—if, say, his resigna: tion takes place within ten years. A barrister would ,be more ready to take a Judgeship if he knew that; in the event of his health breaking down, ihe would receive a reasonable pension, or in the Vrent of his death, his widow and perhaps young children would, to some extent, be secured. POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS. As to the second resolution, one does not want to criticise any appointments that have been made in the past. It is sufficient to say that any appointments to the Bench in the past which might have been regarded perhaps as political have not been looked .upon by the profession as satisfactory. It may be assumed that the present time. has. been chosen for the passing of this resolution because there is not at the moment any suggestion of a politician or ex-politician being appointed to the Bench, and everyone knows that the resolution cannot possibly have any perfonal application to the ■ present holder of the office of Attorney-General, who • V lid at any time in 'his career have been welcomed by the profession as a member of the Bench, but who could not now take a seat on the Bench, even if he were prepared to do so, by reason of the fact that he is already over 72 years of age. ■ ■ J Nothing can be more calculated to detract from the public respect for the bench than suspicion of the Judges bein«associated with either politics or politi° cians. c .. |

NEW COUBT OF APPEAL. My own opinion is that the time has come for the establishment in New Zeaand of a Court of Appeal separate %°™ the p ,&.»l'-em c Court, and consisting of the Chief Justice and two other Jiul-es; and tliese two Judges would be confined to appellate work and wontt do no Supreme Court work at alj. When it w considered that altogether for about four months of the year there are four of the Supreme Court Judges in Wellington, and not including the Chief Justice, it app-nrs plain that if thp ..Judges of the Supreme Court wore r'- ohevpd from Court of Appeal work fewor Judges of the Supreme Court woud be required The annual cost of admimV ter,n X the two Court, would be v" v . tie more than the cost of administe?ng the Supreme Court alone under existing conditions;'and the only capital cot would be that of the erection of ditional court-room in Wellington .lie idea of the creation" of a Court Court PPT ' ? Pm<* h°m the Sl™ Uomt is not a new one. It was snn- ' Rested by Sir John Findlay durinVhh term of "office a. Attorney-Genera STo advantages of such n Court are the snn c : now as they were then. The necessity however, is much greater.. ' ' The suggestion, if it be made, that there would not be sufficient work for a, separate. Court of Appeal can be easily met. A great many cases whirls now so before what is popularly called tha Full

Court, and indeed various matters which now go before a single Judge of the [supreme Court,- could go in the first instance before the Court of .Appeal. This is a matter which 1 could be easily provided for in the legislation-which would be necessary for the purpose'of constituting the Court.. ■ . ANOTHER PROMINENT LAWYER'S VIEWS. ' Another prominent member of the Bar said : _ I entirely agree with the first resolution. Two facts render such a revision in regard to the salary and pension a? 'fP'-rctove- The first is that leaders of the Bar to-day are making substantially more than twice the present 1 salary of our Judges. Our puisne Judges receive £2000 per year, and our Chief Justice £2250. It will be obvious therefore that the acceptance of a Judgeship nowadays by a leading barrister involves a sacrifice which is much greater than he ca° reasonably be asked to make. There is, moreover, in addition to tins financial aspect of the matter, a restraint and loss of freedom which a Judge s position imposes. No doubt this lias always been a factor in Judicial appointments, but a decade or two ago the leaders of the legal profession set off against the restraint and loss of freedom to which I have alluded, the dignity and M'ry high social freedom which the office of the Judge conferred. I do not suggest that that fact is due in any way to any decline in the character, attainments, or qualifications of the Judges appointed during the 'last ten or more years, but the fact remains that there has been a sensible' decline in public opinion generally, of the dignity and high social eminence of the position on the Supreme Court Bench. These latter observations are a further explanation why leaders of the Bar are not prepared to make the financial sacrifice I have just alluded to.

"Hence a revision in regard to our Judges and their pensions is essential if we are to secure for our highest tribunal the men who have proved themselves to be possessed of the exceptional talent, integrity of character, and wide knowledge of the law which are possessed by those members of the legal profession who are regarded by that profession- as its leaders. "PERNICIOUS."

"I "am also in entire concurrence with the view expressed by the second resolution. The mere fact that a barrister holds, or has held, a, political position, including that of Attorney-General, should certainly not weigh against his' appointment as a Judge, but just as certainly a lack of any ot the qualities essential to the; most satisfactory discharge of the great duties , and offices of the Bench should not be regarded as in any way compensated for ' by barristers having held Ministerial office including that of the Attorney-General or as having occupied any other political' position whatever. Any preference snown m making Judicial appointment to any member of the legal profession' merely because he has held a-conspicuous' plaoe in politics is pernicious, 'and would in time not only reduce the efficiency of the Bench but materially diminish the respect and,esteem which it should enjoy m public opinion." The speaker added that he was in a position to say that in the views he had expressed the other leaders of the Car with whom he,had discussed'" these topics fully concurred. COURT OF APPEAL. : ' ' I

The. question of appointing a separate Court of .Appeal was also referred to a proimncntXiember of the profession, who agreed v.-ith the proposals outlined-above •Ao distinction,'; he said, "should be nuuie r.s _ regards salary, pensions or other privileges between those Judges who aroexclusively to form a permanent Court ot Appeal and those Judges who would-continue to occupy seats on 'the S>uj>reme Court. Bench. It might be invidious to make a selection from the present Judges, of those who constitute the new permanent Court of Appeal, though the Judges themselves, will probably recognise the fairness and" propriety of the older Judges whose age makes the discomforts and hardships of circuit work a greater burden than to younger men, being appointed to the propoped Court of Appeal. Further appointments could of course be made without objection either from the / Bar or from the Supreme Court Bench. Ascording ■ to, the present rules of procedure a case may be heard by what is called the Full Court, consisting of four or five Judges, and {hen their decision be made the subject of an appeal to what is ; strictly called our Court of Appeal. Such a practice, permitted by our present system, involves an absurdity. In point' of fact, in a conceivable case you might have a decision by five Judges constituting a I'ul! Court overruled by a' fewer number sitting as a Court, of Appeal. The proposed Court of Appeal would be available to hear and decide all those cases which from their difficulty and importance are now not uncommonly \ heard by the so-called Full Court. A further advantage would be that there are three sittings of the Court of Appeal in a year, and the work at those sittings has invariably been rushed through to enable the different Judges to get back to their own districts, and commence their sittings there. This pressure upon the Judges is most unfair, and, considering the burden cast upon them, it is astonishing how wellthe Appeal Court judicial workis done. Hurry, however, is not conducive to sound decisions. If there were a permanent Court of Appeal exclusively engaged in appeal workthroughout the year this evil would be entirely avoided, and appeals could, moreover, be more promptly disposed of. Finally, the system proposed would 'result in the creation of a Court of Appeal, which, from the length ,of experience or oth?r qualitio3of its.members, would be better equipped for the exceedingly difficult task of weighing, mastering, and deciding intricate questions of law."