THE LONELINESS OF JUDGES

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4008, 14 July 1931, Page 7

THE LONELINESS OF JUDGES

“ THOSE LITTLE BITS OF HUMOUR " Sir Henry M‘Cardie, the bachelor judge, delighted the members of the Authors’ Club with a number of excellent legal stories when he attended as the guest at the club’s fortnightly dinner. Also (says the London ‘ Daily Telegraph ’) he gave the company a glimpse into the loneliness of the judicial Bench as an explanation of the occasional humorous diversions. “ Sometimes,” he observed, “ there is a tendency on the part of the Press to check the* undue humour of the judge. But it they only knew what the life ot a judge is! We have our own isolation, of which you know nothing. 1 felt very isolated when, as a young judge, 1 had to sentence to death five or six people in the course of four days.” Therefore those “ little bits of humour ” which, it was sometimes suggested, ought not to occur on the Bench, were absolutely essential, if iiie\ were to get the right perspective, to lessen antagonisms and keep the court in an atmosphere of humanity, Kindness, and goodwill. (“Hear, hear.”). He told the story of Lord Meisey, who, when Mr Justice Bigham, was attending Liverpool Assizes. On the way from the station lie saw an enormous new building seven or eight doors niuli. Turning to the under-sheriff bv his side, he said: “Dear me, that is an extraordinarily high building. Wnat can it be?” “ Oh,” replied the under-sheriff, “those are the new offices of the Royal Insurance Company.” “ Dear me,” replied Mr Justice* Bigham, “ I thought they were the new chambers of Mr F. E. Smith.” i Laughter.) Sir Henry also recalled the “ bull of Lord Kenyon, “ a severe man, who loved portentous sentences.” Sentencing a butler who had robbed his employer, Lord Kenyon said: “You have > indited the confidence of your master and bioken those deep, profound rights of domestic confidences; you have done worse, because in the course of the last three years you have been feathering vour nest with the bottles of your masters wine.” LEGAL LANGUAGE. E\en Lord Chancellors had their sense of humour. Un one occasion when o-a Westbury was out dnvjng the horse bolted, and the coachman expressed the fear that he wouid be unable to control the animal “If there is going to be an accident,” exclaimed the Lord Chancellor, “ tor heaven’s sake drive into something cheap!” - Then there was the story of the woman witness who, when asked how many children she had, replied; “One. Uurii sixteen years ago. to the best of uiy knowledge, information, and belief.” Counsel asked what happened to the child, and the woman answered: “He died, to the best of my knowledge, m,oi inatioii, and belief.” “Have you bad any other children?” was the next question. “ Not one, to the best of m\ knowledge, information, and belief,” said the witness. Speaking of the good fellowship of the Bar, Sir Henry related an incident of his own early days as a lawyer. He was prosecuting a man tor murder, and at the close of the evidence he noticed that his “ friend,” who was defending the prisoner, was white and trembling. When the court adjourned for lunch he asked his opponent what was the matter, and the defending counsel replied that he really did not think he would bo able to make his final speech to the jury. “ I had a dozen points in my mind,” he added. “ every one of which I thought was in the prisoner’s favour, but every one has gone from me.” “ We wont out to lunch.” said Sir Henry, 1 ' and composed together a speech for ihe defence, and 1 found his points for him, one by one I even wrote out a peroration of seven lines, and I could give it you now, but 1 won’t. (Laughter.) The speech proved so effective that the jury reduced the verdict from one of murder to manslaughter.” (Laughter and cheers.) Sir Henry also showed himself to be a keen student of Dickens, and explained his belief that the bitterness the great author showed towards the law was based on knowledge and his sad experience of the law at the time. When Charles Dickens was born, and for sixteen or seventeen after, he said, in the criminal law of England there were no fewer than 2UU offences punishable by death. “ If you stole os from a shop or 40s from a dwelling house the sentence el the court was death. The criminal law of England was then merciless beyond measure. When Charles Dickens was thirty-two a boy of thirteen was sentenced to death at Maidstone Assizes and actually executed for some petty theft." FORTY-YEAR-LONG CASES. In the Chancery Division, referred to in 4 Bleak House,’ it was possible for suits to last five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and even forty years, and the parties, their executors, and their representatives died in the course of the proceedings, and the costs were absolutly appalling. An interesting point mentioned by Sir Henry was that, according to Dickens, the cost in the famous case of Bardell v. Pickwick came to Lids 4d. 44 The other day 1 inquired what would be the cost of a breach of promise case to day, and 1 found, to my astonishment, that they would be almost the same amount.” (Laughter.) Most people, bo said, assumed from 4 Pickwick Papers ’ that the famous trial of Bardell v Pickwick took place in 1831. 2 That was a printer’s error. The date of the trial could be fixed by other references in the book with precision as February 14, 1828. 44 People sometimes think that judges aro devoid of heart,” said Mr Justice M‘Cardie in conclusion. “ They are not. I assure you. It will not do to give way to sentiment and sympathy. If you did that you could not live a week through the great assizes that you have to visit. You must be stern, you must repress your instincts, and von must withhold your sympathies. “ ft is said that there is one law for the rich and another law for the poor. But 1 never met a judge yet who did not, if he could, somewhat incline towards the poor man. That is one reason why we hope to maintain the confidence of the public; and I venture to tbink that we shall maintain it if we are true to the best traditions of the past, true to the call of unswerving duty, and true, also, to those “islinets of righteous justice which are the glory of the British race. (Cheers.)