STAR CHAMBER PROCEEDINGS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 March 1911, Page 4

STAR CHAMBER PROCEEDINGS.

Yesterday we published a lengthy communication concerning a matter which has caused a great deal of excitement and comment in Wellington. The facts of the affair are not only remarkable in the extreme, but also, we believe, unique in the judicial history of the dominion. It appears that the Chief Justice, exercising, a prerogative allowed him under some obscure act of Parliament, has absolutely forbidden the publication of any reports of a case which has been before the Supreme Court for some time past. The enforcement of such an embargo was quite drastic enough in itself, but the Judge went further and prohibited the announcement of even the names of the parties to this suit. This extraoi’dinary restraint on the Press has naturally led to the wildest of surmises being indulged in as to the nature of the proceedings, it even being asserted that some member of the Legislature is concerned in litigation relating to the administration of an estate. But with the prohibition enforced against the Press udth the severity of the laws oi the Medes and Persians, it is impossible to glean anything definite and it is not, therefore, surprising that this “star chamber” method of dispensing justice has been condemned with striking unanimity. The matter, of course, rests largely in the hands of the Judges, who in most cases exercise a wise discretion. However, it is essential in the cause of Justice that absolute equality shall be maintained before the law. This unusual secrecy, especially in the case where it is rumored that a- member of Parliament is concerned, cannot be commended and, whatever the merits or demerits of the case might be, should not be persisted in. The Wellington “mystery”—as the incident has not inaptly been termed—emphasises the paramount desirability of tha Courts of Justice being open to the public and Press alike. Individual cases of hardship might result but, as Mr. Justice North maintained in the masterly article published last'night, the ends of justice will be better served. We do not comment on the merits of the case, but unhesitatingly say that the introduction of secret trials is eminently undesirable. Not only might it open the way to grave abuses, but it might easily undermine that profound public confidence in which the Judiciary has been held up to the present.