I regularly drop in on "The Magistrate's Blog" (see link below; the lawwestofealingbroadway), because I find what Bystander has to say is usually thought-provoking. Comment-provoking, too. Some of the comments he attracts either seem to expect the judiciary to have a society-focused agenda or complain that we are an arm of the nanny state, interfering unjustifiably in peoples' private lives.
It might help to see what we commit to on appointment. Every magistrate has to swear the Judicial Oath - so does very judge, but with appropriately amended wording. The oath is as follows:
I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second in the office of Justice of the Peace and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of the Realm without fear or favour, affection or ill-will.
In other words:
We serve the Crown, not the government of the day.
We apply the law as it is enacted, not as we wish it were.
We will do so impartially, striving always to recognise and set aside our prejudices and preconceptions.
This is an absolute obligation. If we encounter a piece of legislation which we strongly oppose, we have only one remedy; resign from the bench. Many people did resign at the introduction of the poll tax; a small number have left as a result of the recently introduced victim surcharge.
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1 comment:
..and i'm glad to see the Daily Mailers go from the Bench. Too many on ours!
We can do without them administering their own odd type of justice based on their own peculiar concept of society
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