The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-09-25
HI PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY,. SEPTEMBER 25.

"a UhDA 4. d
TuE administration ofjustice and the qualifca-
tiOns of the judges have been for several weeks Il
prominent t0pi: Of discussion. In reply To the
burst OF indignation with which. on all hands, the
Information of the appointment Vi the Second As
sociate Justice wac received, We had a feeble and
pitiabte attempt at n defence Of the act. i'm which
10 ~ hard 10 say whether its utter imbeciiity or
its cool Impotence predoniHsted. As time wore
On, ample evidence WIS developed Of the truth Of
charges OF utter ineapacity put fOrtn by this jDur-
nal. and every day is adding fresh proofs. in ap-
paTently an increasing ratio, Of the Second
Associates utter unftne-s for the position, and,
from n tone Of audaeious and insOlcnt brayado,
the government organ has subsidized into n prudent
and discreet silence. IL did not di-daIn to take
up the eudgels in defence OF is creature when the
attack was first made, necessarily in n quiet man
ner ; how then will it explain it, silence except
n an implied admission that tile charges are con-
elusive and unanswerable, now that we have
pointed out week after week instances OF the
grOssest ignorance of law and incapacity for judi
eial Office, in cases Of the plainest character. The
machinery of justice will go on smoothly enough,
rs it Is out Of sight to most, when it is guided by
n skillful hand, but an ignorant meddler there
with, If he has any moral conscientioGsness, will
soon be appalled, by the hideous wreck Of justice
and human rights effected by his bungling efforts
Mt interference.
Any person having any knowledge at all of the
law knows, that there IL no middle course by
which n person may be enabled to steer through
the infinite and iDtrieated mazes Of law, assisted
merely by common sense without n mind informed
with legal reason, which IL something, rs the
great Bacon says, not 80 gained by observation
merely without its own use" \ person with n
good natural and cultivated mind may succeed in
doing tolcrnblc justice between parties If he be
unfettered by any rules of positive law but the
moment he has to deal with these, common sense,
merely, n Of no further avail, and a competent
knowledge Of the law, both rs a science and n an
art, is the only answer by which he can escape
from his difficulties. He comes to deal with that
which Is technical and founded upon reasons in
Vulnerable, and apparently conflicting, impossible
to be discovered by ingenuity or intuition. There
Is no better evidence Of ignorance of law and I'M
fitness for Judicial Office than the vain notion that
the being able to read, or the knowledge of. the
statutes OF the country, IS sufficient to enable one
to eonssrue those statutes and dispense the law
involved in them. No one knows this better than
the Second Associates patron and friend, the Min
ister OF Finance These and similar arguments
he has often used when it suited his purpose;
therefore, how can there lie any doubt but that
this appointment is n nice little job for the benc-
ht Of self and friend?
Certain L is that tire whole of Ciristendom
might be rnnsaeked in vain to find n parallel of n
judge who eoorly takes the severest charges with
out an attempt at a Justification, or bringing to
an account those who make them if they be- not
true. The charges must either be true or the
judge has been most grossly abused and misrep-
resented In the latter alternative his friend can
inform him Us to the proper course to pursue. If
his silence is an implied admission that the state
ments relative to his acts are true. does it not
amount to n full admission Of his incompetence?