Evening Post. TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1928. LAW MAKING AND MENDING

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 131, 5 June 1928, Page 8

Evening Post. TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1928. LAW MAKING AND MENDING

«J^ "The Place of the Lawyer in the Community" and "The Relation of the Lawyer to the Slate" were the tAVo closely related and indeed oA'erlapping- subjects of the Attorney- , General's address' to the Legal Conference which Avas held in Christchurch just after Easter. So far as professional interests arc concerned, it may be assumed that the longestablished machinery of the Law Societies is adequate, but the hope is held out by the meeting of Avhat may be called the first Laivyers' Parliament and its results that the profession is realising more clearly than it. previously did its obligations to the State and is preparing to honour them more effectively. What the : "NeAV Zealand LaAV journal" calls "the'outstanding event in the history of the legal profession in New Zea- . land during this generation .at least" ; may prove to be an event of genuine ; importance in the public life of the ] country if this promise is realised. ■ Our legislators are busy from time to , lime -with the making of laws—far , too busy in those recurring spells of , precipitate activity when most of the . work is done to understand what they •■ arc doing. It is the function of the , lawyer to discover what the laws , mean or seem lo mean, and where there-is a serious doubt to get the , Judges to soh'e the riddle. What an ; immense benefit it would be lo the , country if a fraction of-the talent which is thus employed in finding holes in the laws and getting' them ■ patched at the cost of great trouble , and expense could be systematically applied to prevention instead of cure. - A politician Avho, AA'hen the pace of ; legislation was much more leisurely : than it is to-day, Avas about lo quit public life in order to study for the : legal profession, took his leave of the House with the remark that, having been engaged for some years in making the laAvs of the country, he Avas retiring into private life in order to find the leisure to understand them. We can never have a Parliament of legal- experts, nor is it desirable that we should, but it is in the highest sense desirable that the laymen of all parties avlio must alAvays constitute an overwhelming majority of its members should have a far better .knowledge of what they are doing than is possible under existing conditions. There are of course experts in the Crown LaAV Office whose services are always at the disposal of the Government, and sometimes at the disposal of Parliament.. But the interests of the Government are unfortunately too often in conflict with those both of Parliament and of the country. It is of course the duty of the Government lo get its Bills through, and it is to its interest to get them through Avith as little trouble as possible. The free discussion which is essential to a true understanding afways takes time and often makes trouble, and the tendency therefore of every Government is to cut the discussion short, especially Avith those important and difficult measures where it is most urgently needed. The function of the Government's legal advisers is exhausted when they have put its desires into shape. It is then the duty of the Minister in charge and of the Whips to get the measure through, but the most 'powerful whip of all is that which is applied, automatically towards the end of a session by the weariness and impatience of members Avhose chief desire is to get aAvay. The perils of this deadly process of legislation by exhaustion were duly emphasised by the LaAV Conference, but if as a result of its proceedings a standing committee of unofficial legal experts could be appointed to keep in close touch'with the work of Parliament and with the public one valuable safeguard against the mischiefs of this demoralising and dangerous system would be established. This rushing of legislation. Avhich makes the description of Parliament as a deliberative body a mere mockery at the most critical period of its sessions is but one aspect of a broader process to which the Law Conference paid much attention. The encroachment of the Executive upon the functions of Parliament is one of the crying evils of democracy all the world over. In Russia and in Italy the logical conclusion has been reached by the abolition in the one case of a Parliament which at the best was but a feeble affair and in the other by the reduction of Parliament to a mere toof of a Dictator. Without any formal constitutional change NeAV Zealand, like the United Kingdom, has gone very far in the same unconstitutional direction. There is no need for us to discuss again the able paper of Mr. A. F. Wright on "The Present Trend of Legislation Viewed from a Constitutional Standpoint" which, with its special insistence on the growing mischief of "Government by Order-in-Council," Avas one of the outstanding achievements of the Conference. That the Conference was in complete accord ivith his dark vieAV of this menace to the very foundation of our liberties was proved by the resolution which it passed unanimously :— That, this Conference expresses its disapproval of tho groAving practice of legislating by regulation in important matters, and also of the tendency of recent legislation to entrust to officials

wide powers not subject, to control by tho Courts and, in particular, the power of deciding' questions affecting private rights, without allowing tho constitutional right to appeal to the Courts. The Lawyers' Parliament lias done much for the enlightenment of public opinion by its discussion of this important matter, but we "trust that it is taking steps to continue ihe process. Between its sessions it will need, like the Parliament which it criticised, an executive to carry on its business and keep its views before the public*, and whether this will be best done by the Council of the New Zealand Law Society or some other body with special and limited functions is a matter which it is beyond our province to discuss. But this we can say with confidence—that the useful public service which the Legal Conference has already rendered will be greatly increased if the views of. the profession on the issues of public policy which it is specially qualified to discuss can be more frequently brought before the Government and the people, and especially if a searchlight is kept constantly turned on those unconstitutional tendencies so ably discussed by the Conference.