The Oamaru Mail FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1253, 23 April 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1880.

Ix Great Britain and its dependencies the Jaws are included under three heads ; viz., common law, statute law, and equity. Common law is simply the law as handed down by traditionits origin is so remote as to be lost in antiquity; statute law, as its title denotes, is the law as from time to time enacted by statute; while equity is a peculiar admixture of both common and statute law, designed to meet many exigencies insufficiently or not at all provided for by either common law or statute law. It is held that, by the operation of these laws, no one in the British dominions can suffer a wrong without : having a remedy, or as the legal phraseology runs, " Every tort has its remedy." If "this legal maxim were actually 2truism, an absolute finality to further legislation would have been arrived at, but we daily, nay hourly, see abundantproof, that as yet we are only in our infancy as law-makers, and that too many torts exist for which we have provided no i-emedies. Since the advent of responsible Government in our Colonies we find that many statutes have been passed in some of the Colonies, which have no existence either in other Colonies or in the Home Country. 'ln one of our colonies it is lawful to i marry a deceased wife's sister, yet in no other portion of Her Majesty's vast dominions is this lawful. In another 1 sister colony a law exists to prevent the influx of criminals; in no other colony exists such a law. Another colony exacts a poll-tax from certain aliens landing on its shores; in no other colony exists such a law. The divorce laws in our colonies are at variance with the English laws. Primogeniture exists in the United Kingdom, though abolished in the colonies. In one of our colonies the social evil is restricted by special enactments, though in no other portion of oiu* dominions do similar laws exist. In only two of our colonies are members of Parliament paid, and in many other respects the jgfficilnt.ioii of one culuuy varies from that existing, not only in the other colonies, but also in Britain. It thus can be clearly seen that the duty which devolves on those to whom we delegate the power of law-making is not so much the framing of laws similar to those existing either in Great Britain or in any of its dependencies as it is to secure a remedy for any tort as soon as it is clearly proved that a tort exists for wliich there is 110 legal remedy. For this purpose mainly the Colonies have been entrusted with self-government, and the most sacred duty devolves on those who have been elected as representatives to provide as speedily as possible a remedy for every tort. Believing, as we do, that some of otir representatives are fully alive to their duties as well as their privileges, we never hesitate in according to them our most hearty co-operation, and with pleasure we can look back to many of the acts we have performed in the interests of the common weal. "We therefore, with confidence, approach a subject which hitherto? through the i turmoil of political strife, has been | neglected, although of the highest imI portance to the bulk of our community. At present any citizen is liable to be made, though innocent, the subject of j a criminal prosecution. His innocence may be clearly established, and yet his onlv remedy is by the costly and cumbrous process of an action at law for false imprisonment. He thus is first subjected to the indignity of an unjust arrest. He has to expend sometimes his all in order to establish his guiltlessness, and then has to find means with which to cany his case foxdamages through our costly coux - ts. Only such as have gone through this ordeal can fully realise the painful position in which such a pex-son stands. The unjustly accused wight have an excellent case, yet, his means being exhausted, he is utterly helpless. Now, of a surety, this is a tort for which some remedy should be devised. We submit that, in every case in which a criminal prosecution fails, the accused is clearly entitled to be repaid fox*thwith the amount which he has been compelled to expend on his defence. There can exist no cause or reason to the contrary, and a strict sense of even-handed justice must of necessity ! admit that such a course is only fair. By leaving it optional with the presiding Judge to cei-tify for costs, the Treasury would be guarded against fraud; and by giving any acquitted person the power of appeal againat a refusal, he might, after being heard on oath and producing witnesses, so prove his innocence that no Judge would) refuse to issue a certificate of costs. We surely have in our House of Representatives plenty of men who could take the subject in hand, and so deal with it as to provide an ample remedy for this [ most undeniable tort. In the cases of many persons who have been tried and acquitted, presiding Judges have state 4 that the accused left the Coux*t without a stain oh thsir characters, and yet, from the very natux-e of the charges and px-o-cess of our criminal law, sxjcb persons could not proceed against any one for

false imprisonment, nor could they recover the costs of their defence. We urge this matter on the attention, of our Representatives as guardians of our liberties, and hope that the next session, will see it duly ventilated, and, if possible, provided for in. our Statute Books.