Concerning JusticeEmery, Lucilius A. (Lucilius Alonzo)
Philosophy
Concerning Justice
Emery, Lucilius A. (Lucilius Alonzo)
Courts -- United States; Justice; Justice, Administration of
For the judiciary to be in fact, as well as in theory, the protector
of the constitutional rights of the individual against the government,
and of the legal rights of the individual against the aggressions of
others, it should be made so far as possible free, impartial and
independent. The judges should have such security of tenure, and such
security and liberality of maintenance, that they will have no
occasion nor disposition to court the favor, or fear the disfavor, of
any individual or class however powerful or numerous, not even the
government itself. They should be made free to consider only what is
the truth as to the existing law or fact in question, uninfluenced by
any suggestions of what is demanded by prince, people, or individual,
or by any suggestion of consequent good or evil to themselves. This
proposition to my mind is so self-evident that quotations from eminent
philosophers cannot strengthen it.
The necessity of some independent tribunal between the governors and
the governed was recognized in republican Rome, where it was provided
that the persons of the tribunes should be inviolate, an immunity not
granted to any other officials. The medieval cities of Italy
frequently selected their judges from some other city that they might
be free from any connection with different local factions or
interests. When, however, the empire supplanted the republic in Rome,
and the free cities of Italy were made subject to despotic domination,
the independence of these tribunals was lost. History shows that those
possessing the governmental power have always been unwilling to
maintain an independent judiciary. The only countries today possessing
a judiciary with any considerable degree of independence are the
United Kingdom and some of its "Dominions beyond the seas" and our
own country. The need of it was seen in the experience of the people
of England and of the English Colonies in America under a judiciary
liable to be deprived of office or salary if its opinions were
displeasing to the crown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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