MOTOR MENACE

Grey River Argus, 25 August 1937, Page 5

MOTOR MENACE

Light Penalties A JUDGE HAS HIS VIEWS. [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] AUCKLAND, August 24. Support of the contention by Mr. Luxford S.M., that protection should be given to Magistrates, was expressed by Mr Justice Ostler, when interviewed at the Supreme Court this morning. “A most important function of the State is the impartial administration of justice.V said His Honor. Human experience has shown that the safest and best way of ensuring the pure administration of justice is the absolute independence of those engaged in its administration. After the unfortunate experience of subservient Judges during the periods of the Stuarts in England, that independence was finally provided, so far as Judges were concerned, in the Act of Settlement of 1701. So important was the principle considered, that it has been ever since enshrined in every democratic constitution, based on the English model. It is to be found in the constitutions of the United States of America, in all the Australian Colonies, and of New Zealand. “In addition to the constitutional position of Judges, making them independent of the executive, the Englist law has for a long time provided that Judges shall be absolutely immune from civil liability for anything they say or do, in the execution of their duty. As pointed out by Mr. Luxford, this rule was devised not tor the protection of the Judges, but for the benefit of the public. “The surest way of providing for the purity and independence of the administration of justice, is to provide that those engaged in the administration should be put in a position of independence and freedom j from fear of consequences. Then, if men of high character are chosen, that is . the, best, system human thought can devise. “There is ho reason, to my mind, why magistrates should not be put in the same position as Judges, in being both independent of the executive, and immune from the consequences of their acts done without, malice, and in the execution of their duty.”