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DISSATISFACTION WITH LAW <!--[if gte mso 10]> DISSATISFACTION WITH LAW By Taki Ahmad Khan, Barrister-at-Law, Lahore "Dissatisfaction with law" means doubting the honesty of lawyers, probity of Judges and integrity of minions who are engaged in the Administration of justice. Lawyers have always been the subject of most scathing criticism. Gulliver describing the lawyers of his country to Houyhnhnms, said: "There was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose that white is black and black is white according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are slaves. For example, if my neighbour has a mind to my cow, he hires a lawyer to prove that he ought to have my cow from me. I must then hire another to defend my right, it being against all rules of law that any man should be allowed to speak for himself." 2. There has never been a time when the lawyers have not been asked familiar questions, "How can you with any sense of righteousness defend a rascal? How can you stand on the side of inequity and falsehood?" It surpasses the imagination of a man who espouses only a cause in which he honestly believes that a talented gentleman should canvass the cause not because that he is convinced of its correctness but because he is paid for it. To him the defence of a guilty man appears a monstrous act. He knows or believes that the man in the dock is a scourge of the society why the gentleman in the black robes with all his skill and dexterity cannot know that the man he is defending is a villian. 3. The charge against lawyers has been answered by Thomas Erskin when he said, "If the Advocate refuses to defend from what he may think of the charge or the defence, he assumes the character of the Judge and puts the heavy influence of perhaps a mistaken opinion into the scale against the accused in whose favour the benevolent principles of English law make all presumptions and which commands the very Judge to be his counsel". 4. Law takes note of human imperfection, man's natural propensity to err and instead of damning the man believes in his redemption and resurrection. Love for the sinner prevailed with the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) when he prayed contrary to the exhortation of his companions, "O Lord! show them the path of righteousness because (when they err) they know not". 5. Those who champion draconian application of law want to do away with the right of defence guaranteed in law to every defendant. They impliedly deny that man is fallible and prone to commit blunders. Law provides for the erring, blundering man and lawyers have risen to great heights in their defence of the guilty. Marshall Hall was a household name in 1920's. when he defended the accused with his superb eloquence; Demostheness when in 'The Crown' he repelled the charges of treachery levelled against him at Athens in 3rd Century B.C. Edmumd Burk accusing Warren Hastings Sheridan defending with words which "surpassed all the eloquence of ancient and modern times". The fear of everybody listening to Francis Bacon was lest he should stop, the people would not cough lest they should miss some words of the speech. 6. Lawyer by nature of his work invites acrimonious comments which is often misplaced as a lawyer is not stating his own view. Lawyer is engaged to put before a Judge the case of his client which the client cannot plead due to want of education or emotional involvement which suffocates his expression. 7. Public complaints of dishonesty both against the lawyers and Judges have found expression in unsavoury jokes and sarcastic comments. Sometimes disgruntled clients and litigants imagine that the Judge or the lawyer has not dealt them fairly. Stray instances are no cause of serious concerns but if the complaint is universal and comes from disjointed places against the same lawyer or Judge then it demands weeding out of the cancerous organ. It is necessary to destroy a single isolated part than the destruction of the whole system by spread of cancerous disease. A permanent commission headed by a Judge of impectable antecedents should be installed to see that no lawyer or Judge should fly a flag of Fisad-fil-Arad by betraying the trust which the public reposes in him all too often blindly. 8. Inside and outside of our Courts of law motley crowds gather to create scenes of bewilderment. To enter a Courtroom at the peak hours needs a good deal of jostling as the entries are blocked by curious spectators. Inside the Court-rooms you see litigants lawyers shaking hands, giving bon homey nods smirking and digging their fingers in their ears and noses. These destracting spectacles are bane of administration of justice. Bar Associations should arrange frequent conferences to educate the lawyers how to conduct themselves in Courts. At least a booklet containing the rules of a Lawyer's conduct at the Bar should be given to every new entrant in the profession. Business of Court can also be regulated to cut down the crowds in the Court rooms which in hot months of summer becomes infernos. 9. Judge occupies place of pride in the adversary system of law. It is he who does the unenviable work of dispute resolution. He bears the brunt of criticism if decisions rendered irk the public sensibility or are wholly unpopular. Some appointments to the judicial offices have later led to impeachment. Holdsworth records the history of a judicial appointment in the following paragraph: "The sale of the office of Master was carried on with greater eagerness as the value of the office rose. The barefaced way in which these transactions were carried out is illustrated by some of the evidence given upon Lord Macclesfield's impeachment for corruption. The following is a typical instance. Master Elde deposed that he had offered the Chancillor 5000 for the post. Cottingham (the Chancillor's Agent) stood out for guineas. 'I immediately went to my Lord, being willing to get into the office as soon as I could. I did carry with me 5000 guineas in gold and bank notes. I had the money in my chambers but did not know how to convey it ------but recollecting I had a basket in my chambers, I put the guineas in the basket and notes with them. I went in the chair and took the basket with me in my chair. When I came to my Lord's house I saw Mr. Cottingham there and gave him the basket and desired him to carry it up to my Lord. I saw him go upstairs with the basket and when he came down he intimated to me that he had delivered it. When I was admitted, my Lord invited me to dinner and some of my friends with me and he was pleased to treat me and some members of the House of Commons in a very handsome manner. I was after dinner sworn in before them. Some months after, I spoke to my Lord's gentleman and desired him if he saw such a basket he would give it me back. He did so." (Holdsworth: A History of English Law) 2nd Edition, 228. There are instances when Judge's performance at the Bench has provoked cry of protest by the lawyers. A lawyer wrote to his beloved in 19th Century asserting his faithfulness that he would cease loving her when the Judge Pritchared makes a right decision. Some time the protest by a -disgruntled customer carries cart load of venom, "Mr. Justice Darling presided over Birmingham Assizes in 1990. His observation angered the editor of 'Birmingham. Daily Argus' who wrote, "There is not a journalist in Birmingham who has anything to learn from the impudent little man in the horse chair. A micro-cosm of conceit and empty handedness." (82 LTR 534). Judges also suffer from what is called Judges disease i.e. a condition to which the symptoms may be pomposity, irritability, talkativeness, proneness to obiter dicta and a tendency to take short cuts. (Lord Hailsham in 'The Door where I went' 225). 10. The quantity of work which the Judges have to do is daunting. The public demands from them utopian justice forgetting' that Judges too are human and fallible. Much of the criticism on the Judge's work is due to subjective notions and prejudices which an ordinary person harbours and cherishes. The progress of human society owes every stint of it to the judicial labours. Think of Lord Coke who curtailed the royal prerogative of decision-making and spoke of "The golden and straight net waned of law as opposed to the uncertain and crooked cord of discretion." (4 Institutes 41). Lord Mansfield who in acquitting Lord George Gordon on a charge of High Treason protected the individual's liberties, Lord Denning who defended the privacy of home by declaring that wind can enter the house of poor man through its broken walls but not the Armies of the King without sanction of the law. 11. The work of the Judge is innovative as he has to break new grounds. (Donoghue v. Stevenson) 1932 Appeal Cases 562. But when the load of work on the Judge is exasperating the urge to develop the law gives way to coping up with the routine cause list. In order to provide relief to the Judge's common cases of habeas corpus, custody, registration of first information reports and transfer matters may be entrusted to a Single Judge who should have no other judicial work. It is also astonishing to see that Judges in our High Courts are being entrusted with all types of cases. The result is that decision of a civil suit by a Judge of criminal jurisdiction leaves the litigants and the counsel gasping with wonder. In theory the Judges may be omniscient but in practice they are not. Everywhere in the High Courts Benches are constituted who decide cases of special nature like Civil, Criminal, Constitutional, Family, Admiralty etc. The Judges working on these Benches develop those branches of law which fall in their jurisdiction. This is an age of specialists and' gone are the days of Averroes and Avi-eeanne who knew something of everything. 12. Our High Courts are choking with old cases waiting their decisions. Only a Herclean Feat can clear this back log but if there are appropriate amendments in law these disputes waiting decisions since decades can be resolved through arbitrators picked out of the retired Judges of the superior judiciary the system can be saved from imminent collapse. 13. The people clamour for the decision of their disputes but Judges find themselves helpless considering the amount of work and energy required to decide hundred of cases a day. Deep sense of frustration has thus spread among the people. Some revolutionary and bold steps are needed to forestall disaster. Ibn-e-Maskoya has enumerated some attributes of a Judge which includes perception, clear headedness, quick understanding and sharp, analytical faculty with lucid expression. (Tehzeeb-ul-Ikhlaq page 8). Judge proceeds in the light of Hikmat and the Holy Qur'an warrants that great wealth goes to those who are endowed with Hikmat" (Sura Al-Baqarah 269). 14. For a layman law is synonymous with police. Police is corrupt, every one would agree and criminal administration of justice is being wrecked by the inefficiency and dishonesty of the police. 15. For a long time the successive Governments have used the police to suppress their opponents. The Governments change and the policemen serve their new masters. All the brutalities, injustice are conducted at the behest of politicians but who gets the blame? Police. If only the police is liberated of the political influence, its investigations would become creditworthy. 16. Everywhere in the world the best paid jobs are of police and Judges. Our policeman is the poorest of the poor. He is wielder of power and sure he would misuse his power to feed his family. No wonder that corruption is rampant in the police. 17. Criminals in olden times used to be destitutes but not now. Criminals now are equipped with latest weaponry and raciest of vehicles. Our Police are ill-clad and ill-fed, provided with vehicles which need hefty pushes to start them. With great odds against the law-breakers no wonder the police performance is widely criticised. 18. Does anybody show respect to the police force? Do people cooperate with the police in the detection of the crime? Even when the policemen give their lives fighting the crime, there is little public applaud. Do you expect that Rule of law will reign supreme when its lowest limb is ill-fed, ill equipped and shown no respect at all? ***