I came across an interesting comment and quote in an article I was recently reading:
In June 1927, the National Geographic Magazine published an article describing law reform under a Manchu emperor who reigned in the early eighteenth century. Emperor Kang-hsi decided that [government] courts should be as bad as possible so his subjects would settle disputes by arbitration. Responding to a petition about judicial corruption, he decreed as follows:
Lawsuits would tend to increase toa frightful extent if people were not afraid of the tribunals. … I desire therefore that those who have recourse to the courts should be treated without any pity and in such a manner that they shall be disgusted with the law and tremble to appear before a magistrate. IN this manner … good citizens who may have difficulties among themselves will settle them like brothers by referring to the arbitration of some old man or the mayor of the commune. As for those who are troublesome, obstinate or quarrelsome, let them be ruined in the law courts.
The article was: “The 2002 Freshfields Lecture–Arbitration’s Protean Nature: The Value of Rules and the Risks of Discretion,” by William W. Park, Arbitration International, v.19, no. 3, 2003; quoting Frank Johnson Goodnow, “The Geography of China: The Influence of Physical Environment on the History and Character of the Chinese People,” in National Geographic Magazine, v. 51, June 1927, at 661-62.
In another article by Park, how mentions the remarks attributed to Sir John Astbury, the English judge who declared the 1926 British General Strike to be illegal. As workers were rioting across Britain, some politicians suggested conciliation and change. To which Astbury asked rhetorically, “Reform? Reform? Are things not bad enough already?”
{ 1 comment }
Have a look at retired Chief Justice Hewitt’s book “The New Despotism” (1928 if I recall) – Britian had good judges in those days.
Comments on this entry are closed.