EXPERIMENT IN JUSTICE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XII, Issue IX, 3 March 1894, Page 215

EXPERIMENT IN JUSTICE.

* The law’s delay,’ which Hamlet thought was one of the things which made life not worth living, has been a subject of raillery on the part of satirists, and of serious concern on the part of statesmen, in all ages. The poor man who, at the present time, has gone into court, and who fears that justice will never be done him there, may assure himself that at least his troubles are nothing new. The chronicles, inpartcomposedof traditions, of thetimeof tbegreat Emperor Charlemagne, who was the master and to a great extent the lawgiver of Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries, record an interesting and amusing attempt on this monarch’s part to prevent the delays of justice. He could not deny that the excuses made by the judges were plausible, but he was convinced that they could decide cases more promptly if they would. He decreed, therefore, that when a judge hail failed to render a decision within a certain reasonable time, the complainant in the case should have the right to take up his residence in the judge’s house, to eat at his table, and to lodge at his expense until the decision should be made. The decree was promptly taken advantage of by various litigants, who praised the wisdom and righteousness of their sovereign as they tasted the fare and slept on the beds of their dilatory judges. They found, however, that there was another side to the picture. They succeeded in hastening the decision of the judge , but when it was reached, it was generally found to be unfavourable to the complainant. It was his way, as we should express the matter in the nineteenth century, of ‘getting even.’ This interesting method of enforcing decisions, therefore, became unpopular. And what the wise and powerful Charlemagne failed to accomplish has never since been effectually secured.