Judges

[xl] to the approbation of Parliament (§ 3), whilst the appointment of puisne judges was left as before in the hands of the King.

namely, those for an oath to be taken by all Privy Councillors and Judges to maintain the Petition of Right and certain statutes to be named by Parliament (§ 11), for the dismissal of all Privy Councillors and Ministers of State except such as were approved by Parliament (§ 1);

Not only did the demands for the exclusion from seats in the House of Lords of Peers afterwards created unless with the consent of Parliament, for the permanent submission of appointments of officers and judges to the approbation of Parliament, and for the education and marriage of the King’s children being placed under Parliamentary control, which had been omitted from the Oxford Propositions, re …

”* Judges were in those days, and afterwards, such abject servants of the king, that “we find that King Edward I.

The answer to this objection is, that, since Magna Carta, judges have had more than six centuries in which to invent and promulgate pretended maxims to suit themselves;

Legislators and judges are necessarily exposed to all the temptations of money, fame, and power, to induce them to disregard justice between parties, and sell the rights, and violate the liberties of the people.

The Married Women’s Property Acts have, as a matter of fact, perplexed not only lawyers, but even judges, who, while accustomed to the rules of the common law, were unfamiliar with the principles of equity, and have raised a whole host of nice and thorny questions as to the precise rights and liabilities of married women.

Assuming that the method of reform adopted by Parliament from 1870 onwards was the right one, there is little to be said either against the Act of 1882, at any rate as regards the principles on which it was founded, or against the construction put upon it by the judges who, rightly (it is submitted), treated the legal separate property created by the Act as having the character of separate propert …

The facts have been confirmed by evidence as I promised, gentlemen;

Nevertheless, it is also, I think, of great importance to you who are my judges that you should reach a correct verdict in trials for murder, first and foremost because of the gods and your duty towards them, and secondly for your own sakes.

In this knowledge, make the prosecution bear the consequences of their sin;

It is your duty to take vengeance for the injury which he so lawlessly inflicted:

but it is a sin that the accused should be sentenced, if the charges made against him have not been proved conclusively.

as if it were the interest of the laws and the judge not to inquire into the truth, but to prove the crime;

as if judges were to be the knights-errant of human nature in general, rather than guardians of particular conventions between men.

The time for inquiry and for justification should be fixed by the laws, and not by the judge, who, in that case, would become legislator.

and the Judges shall bring before the Court according to the law all persons against whom such information is laid;

if any Athenian citizens are now in jail or shall hereafter be imprisoned on impeachment by the Council, if the judgement against such prisoners be not delivered to the Judges by the Secretary of the Presidency in pursuance of the law of impeachment, be it enacted that the Eleven shall bring them before the Court within thirty days of the day on which they receive them into custody, unless prevent …

So that it is unlikely, judges, that my father committed so wicked a crime from which he derived no advantage.

Gentlemen, you have heard not only us but also all our kinsmen give evidence that Euphiletus here is our brother.

Thus, gentlemen, the probabilities are in favor of my having given true evidence, and the same is true of the other relatives.

You have heard what the witnesses say, and I do not believe that even Leochares himself would declare that their evidence has not been true.

Yet if he had not given surety in the presence of the judges, five hundred in number, and of those who were present in court, I don't know what he could have done.

I beseech you, therefore, to condemn Leochares, in order that we may recover what our forefathers left to us and possess not merely their names but their property also.

Judges, my mother's brother, Pyrrhus, having no legitimate issue, adopted my brother Endius as his son.

but it is proper that the falsity of his evidence should be proved before you also who are about to give your verdict on this very issue.

How could an accuser establish a charge of perjury more clearly than by adducing proofs from the actual conduct of my adversaries themselves and from all the laws of our state?

I observe that when others who are placed in jeopardy here come to the end of their defense, they supplicate, they implore, they bring their children and their friends before the jury.

Being assured, therefore, that I am of this mind, and that I believe that whatever you decide will be for my good and to my advantage, let each one cast his vote as he pleases and is inclined.

And let no one of you suppose that while all other people realize how much the scales of persuasion incline in favor of one who has the approval of his judges, the devotees of philosophy alone are blind to the power of good will.

For they saw that in cases of contract the judges were not in the habit of indulging their sense of equity but were strictly faithful to the laws;

and that they did not in trying others seek to make it safe for themselves to disobey the law, but were indeed more severe on defaulters than were the injured themselves, since they believed that those who break down confidence in contracts do a greater injury to the poor than to the rich;

On these questions eleven of the judges delivered their opinions.

On the fifth question, six answered in the affirmative, and five in the negative.

On the third question, six of the judges answered in the affirmative, and five in the negative.

Now let us examine the function of the righteous judges.

the business of this power is about as you have described it.

Then we find that the strength of judges is not kingly, but is guardian of laws and a servant of the kingly power.

Or do you think there are any teachers so clever as to be able, in the short time allowed by the water-clock, satisfactorily to teach the judges the truth about what happened to people who have been robbed of their money or have suffered other acts of violence, when there were no eyewitnesses?

Then when judges are justly persuaded about matters which one can know only by having seen them and in no other way, in such a case, judging of them from hearsay, having acquired a true opinion of them, they have judged without knowledge, though they are rightly persuaded, if the judgement they have passed is correct, have they not?

The conclusion is that judges ought to be very careful about committing themselves to fashionable economic theories:

When workmen and subaltern employees plucked up courage to bring actions against their masters, orthodox political economy was already in the ascendant, and those judges who had minds above mere empirical routine had one leading idea, that all would be well in the best of possible competitive worlds if one could only reduce all human relations to contract.

An action will not lie against a judge for any words used by him in his judicial capacity in a court of justice.

our judges are too few in number;