Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, .1880. JUSTICE AS IN FRANCE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 3960, 12 October 1880, Page 2

Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, .1880. JUSTICE AS IN FRANCE.

"Theyclo these things better in France" is a saying which is true of some very important matters, notably of the land system of that great country as compared with that of the United Kingdom. In the matter of jurisprudence, too, the French have the advantage of us, their statute law being simplicity itself as compared with that of England ; but when, we come to speak of the established practice of law courts,, there, we think, our French friends themselves will admit that the superiority is on our side. For it is — unless some change has taken place very recently — the practice in France for the Judge who tries a criminal charge to act as if he combined in his own person the functions of Judge and State Prosecutor. That is to say, the Judge regards it as a reflection on his professional reputation if the case for the prosecution breaks down. The consequence is that a Judge's charge in France generally resembles a Crown Prosecutor's speech in England — he sums up dead against the prisoner as a matter of course. It may be, for aught we know to the contrary, that this state of things has undergone a change for the better of late, but with this we have nothing to do at present. Our object is to draw attention to the fact that, according to the representations of the Sydney Evening News, an attempt has been made in that city to introduce this objectionable French system. The particulars of the case are as follows: One I Mot Mot brought an action against the Sydney Daily Telegraph for misrepresenting his evidence as given before the Supreme Court in a certain action, it being alleged by plaintiff that the misrepresentation was of such a nature as to damage his character. The case was tried before Mr Justice Windeyer, whose summing up was severely criticised by the Evening News as being that of a counsel for the prosecution and not that of a Judge. The News asserts that his Honor not only failed to point out anything which weakened the plaintiff's case, but actually descended so low as to comment on the personal appearance of one of the witnesses for the defence, in a way that '• was little short of brutality." The witness in question was a reporter, and, according to the statement of the News, Judge Windeyer, in his summing up, falsely accused this witness of being addicted to habits of intemperance, and insinuated that his evidence was for this reason unreliable, though he (the Judge) failed to point out any inconsistencies in that evidence, or hesitancy in the witness's manner while giving it. As our readers are aWare, the Evening News has been fined £250 for contempt of Court, and, by the way, it is said that Sir William Manning, the Chief Justice, in delivering judgment, expressed his determination to " stand by a brother Judge "—in other words, openly avowed that he was influenced by a feeling of partizanship. Public indignation has been aroused, and of course the matter will have to be discussed in the New South Wales Legislature, whose bounden duty it will be, if 4 it should find the charges against Judge Windeyer to be true, to petition the Governor for his removal from the Bench.