OCR Text |
Show JUSTICE BETTER THAN LAW. Forty years ago an old judge, commissioned by the Home Government, his tenure of office being for life and good behavior, was presiding over one of the provincial courts in lower Canada. His lordship, as the people down there called him, was a well preserved octogenarian at the time of the incident about to be mentioned, and although it was not believed that he had spent any very large part of his life reading his books, his decisions were characterized by a remarkably clear sense of justice and right. On one occasion, no elderly and feeble-looking man from the country having been brought before him, the judge kindly asked; "What charge against this man?" "He has been brought here," said a wealthy and well-known resident of the town, "in answer to an order applied for by me. A year ago I entered bail for him on a debt of twenty dollars to keep him out of prison, he promising to pay me within three months, but no part of the money has yet been paid." "And what," asked the judge, "do you wish to have done with him?" "The law gives me the right," said the plaintiff, "to have him sent to prison and kept there at my expense until the debt is paid." "Well, and what have you to say about the matter?" his lordship inquired of the old man proceeding in a quiet and informal way, without any oath being administered on either side. "Why have you not paid the debt?" "I have had a good deal of sickness and one death in my family, please your lordship," said the man. "I would be glad to pay him, and if I am not sent to prison, I will be able, I hope, to pay a part within three months, and all before the end of another year." "That will not answer my purpose," said the plaintiff firmly. "I must have my money. He has relatives who are able to pay me and they must do so." "What do any of you know about the defendant?" asked the judge, turning to the bystanders. Some three or four replied that they knew him to be a sober, hard-working man, and after speaking together a moment one of them added. "We will make up the money among us rather than he shall be sent to prison." "That is not necessary," said the judge, as he turned upon the plaintiff a stern and commanding look. "My judgment is that you give this man five dollars to pay for the trouble you have made him; and if you make another effort to send him to prison for nothing worse than his temporary inability to pay a debt which you have assumed and paid for him, you will be sent there." The money was handed to the judge without demur, and as he passed it over to the debtor, whose eyes were filling with grateful tears, he said. "Take this, go home and do the best you can and pay the debt as soon as you can. This man shall not trouble you any more." This incident was related to the writer some years ago by a gentleman who witnessed it, and added that while passing out of the court room, he asked a man at his side what would have been done if the order to pay that five dollars had not been obeyed. "Done?" said the man with a look of surprise. "The man wouldn't dare disregard his lordship's order. If he had, we'd a hung him-if his lordship told us to do so." May there not be an intimation in that incident that the intuitive perceptions of a just and good man are often a more reliable guide to what ought to be done in some cases, than anything the law books contain.-American Sentry. |