BRITISH JUSTICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20622, 25 November 1941, Page 2

BRITISH JUSTICE

ELEMENTS UNCHANGED t MARCH WITH THE TIMES MILESTONES ON THE WAY “When the early pioneers came from Die Homeland, they brought with them to New Zealand as part of their imperishable inheritance the common law of England. Secure in the protection given by the just and fearless administration of that law they pursued their great work of colonisation." declared the Hon. H. G. R Mason, Minister of Justice, addressing a large gathering in Ruatoria yesterday on the occasion of the formal, opening of the new courthouse there “Sir John Logan Campbell, in his records, tells us how in May. 1841, he saw a magistrate sitting in front ot his whare dispensing justice under the canopy of heaven. ‘Very primitive were our ways,' he said. We had parsons without churches, and magistrates without courts. but we scrambled through so that we should be held in esteem as a Christian and properly-behaved people. "Consider how excellently this noble ideal of our early pioneers was carried on in the intervening years ot settlement.” continued the Minister. "Note the remarks of Mr. Justice Williams in 1887: ‘lf justice is to be administered it matters little where it is administered, whether under a tree in the open, or in a barn, or in some stately palace. The standing of the court depends not on its surroundings, but uoon the learning, the integrity, the diligence, and the patience o’ those who preside there.’ ( Golden Thread of English Law “Down through the years the Statute Book has more or less mirrored our social development. We have clung tenaciously to democratic principles, and our legislation in the main has been influenced by the paternal doctrine of that great law reformer. Bentham, who said that the proper end of law is the promotion of the greatest happiness for the greatest nu/mber. “The liberty of the individual is the golden which runs through the English law, and this indeed is a precious heritage which all British communities enjoy, in contrast with conditions in totalitarian States where the force of law has given place to the lawlessness of force, and individua liberty has gone. The idea of personal liberty founded on the principle laid down in Magna Charta —nc punishment without the law is foreign to the totalitarian idea, which places the state above the rights and liberties of the individual. Firm Basis of Democracy “In all British communities the fundamental basis of the social organisation is law and order, and the maintenance of law and order depend: on the existence and enforcement o a code of laws. Our constitution provides that the rights of the people exist by law, and can be altered only in accordance with the law. ■ The Bil of Rights embodies the principle that the right of access to the courts shall be open to all. end that they shall lay their complaints before judges who shall do right to all manner of men without fear,' or favour, or affection, or ill-will.” The Minister referred to the fact that'the two Empires outstanding in the history of the world for their beneficent oower and influence, the Roman and the British, were both alike remarkable for the high regard paid by their people to the law as the guardian of liberty. The legal systems of the world to-day owed their best elements to those two empires The common law of England was the foundation of our liberties, and stood in opposition to the totalitarian idea of tyranny and domination. “The people of the East Coast have shown their devotion to those ideals,’ continued Mr. Mason. “Not only their members of Parliament, but many others, including many in the Maori Battalion in particular, had fought heroically for the cause of justice. In Greece, in Crete, and now in Libya, men have fought and are fighting for what they and we know to be the only firm basis of democratic life —the principles embodied in the common law of England.”