The Christian Heritage of Justice

 Being Treated Fairly Before the Court

It is a great boon to live in a just society--and, no, we are not thinking of the faux "justice" of egalitarianism, now so very popular amongst the ignorant and those riddled with the canker of envy.  Rather, we have in view the system of justice which enables citizens to seek redress or get their actions judged properly and fairly.

Justice is often difficult to define. The traditions of English common law, however, have developed over many centuries the concept of a fair trial and the principles which undergird it.  F.E. Dowrick [Justice According to the English Common Lawyers (London: Butterworths, 1960)], courtesy of a series of lectures by Lord Denning, has provided a summary of the essential principles which make up a fair trial.

1. The judges should be absolutely independent of the Government.

It is of the essence of fair trial that the judge should be dependent on no man who can by any possibility become a party to a proceeding before him, so that he can adjudicate evenly between the parties--whether these are private citizens or whether a private citizen is opposed to a government official or to the government itself.  And in jury trials the absolute independence of the jury is no less important than the independence of the judge.

2. The judge must have no interest himself in any matter that he has to try.  He must be impartial.  No person can be a judge in his own cause. 

3. The judge, before he comes to a decision against a party, must hear and consider all that he has to say.  No-one ought to be condemned unheard . . . . (T)he only fair way of reaching a correct decision on any dispute is for the judge to hear all that is to be said on each side and then come to his conclusion. 

4. The judge must act only on the evidence and arguments properly before him and not on any information which he receives from the outside. 

5. The judge must give his reasons for his decision.

6.  A judge should in his own character be beyond reproach, or at any rate should have so disciplined himself that he is not himself a breaker of the law. 

7.  Each side should state its case as strongly as it can . . . (since) truth is best discovered by powerful statements on both sides of the question. 

The search for the truth of the matter before the court is of the essence of a fair trial but counsel must contain themselves within bounds: accordingly they "must never distort or suppress the truth", and in criminal cases counsel for the prosecution should act "not as an advocate to to condemn the accused, but as a minister of justice to see that he is fairly treated. 

This list is not exhaustive, but it captures the essentials, such that if any of the seven be lacking, the centre of justice through a fair trial will not long hold.