Machiavelli said: “Fortune (luck) rules only half a man’s life; The
other half being their will.”
Born equal as we may be, it’s how one performs as one wanders through this odyssey called life, that determines our fate.
There is
however, another qualifier (aside from bequeathed health impediments), and that
is the rule of law. That’s to protect us. Question is, protect us from
who?
Equal as we
may well be, such is the nature of human beings, that many if not most, as they
apply their “intensity” to live (to coin Gina), will in some way large or
small, transgress.
Who enforces
the laws, therefore becomes is a critical factor; be the enforcers government
bureaucrats, the police (distinct from the former) or the courts.
Material and
or monetary gain by bureaucrats providing services e.g. building consents for
hidden payments (1),
or police fabricating evidence to gain a conviction, respect from colleagues
and enhance the prospect of promotions (2), regrettably, are not rare manifestations
of corruption within these bastions.
In New
Zealand Crown Prosecutors are licensed agents of the Government. Crown Law’s
task is to prosecute serious crime cases investigated by the police which
result in charges being laid. They are independent of the police.
The Crown
agent should also withdraw charges where it becomes apparent that the, “good
cause to suspect”, has evaporated. Whether a Crown Prosecutor should petition a
Judge on the matter of penalty, once their task of presenting the police
evidence has secured a conviction, is a moot point. Does such passion on the
point of penalty, compromise the integrity of Crown Law independence?
There is however,
another aspect of the system of laws, which can be manipulated to take unfair
advantage of peasant, parvenu and those, born to the manor (but outside the
cradle of a career in law).
In reconstructing
criminal and civil cases, I concluded that our legal fraternity is virtually,
an incestuous cauldron.
Within this
close professional community, some lawyers appear to reach tacit agreement with
colleagues who in court are adversaries, to avoid early resolution of the case,
and thereby engage in a time-consuming process, running up fees which may be charged
at excessive rates. (3)
One of the
most deleterious initiatives applied to the legal system in New Zealand, was
the removal of the Privy Council as final arbiter of Justice in New Zealand. Devoid
of any influence by family or religious network from within such a close
community as the New Zealand judiciary appears to be, the Privy Council
provided a safe haven for justice to be served.
As the
witches in Macbeth warned, “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn
and cauldron bubble”.
Addendum
In
"Macbeth," the witches' brew ingredients are symbolic of the
dark forces influencing Macbeth's ambition and moral decline, reflecting the
play's themes of ambition and corruption.
Ross Meurant BA MPP. Company
Director. www.gena.co.nz Former
Police Inspector, Member of Parliament & Honorary Consul.
(1)
When Good Cops Go Bad, North & South, Oct
2011.
(2) https://www.sfo.govt.nz/media-cases/media-releases/men-guilty-of-corruption-and-bribery-will-spend-time-in-jail https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/disgraced-lawyer-barry-hart-loses-bid-to-save-career/HIMMG763EECRX2OXACGSAV4774/
9 comments:
"We are all born to die" I have not found this in the literature, but I understand that death is adaptive. In order for evolution to proceed, it is necessary to remove the old genes from the gene-pool. You have within you a program for your own death. In our psyche, it is Freud's mortido, which manifests in consciousness as a death-wish.
As Ramesh Thakur (article below) says: As many Western democracies reach an inflection point on mass immigration, courts have become the place where democracies go to die.
A similar perspective as mine. For many years I have argued there cannot be an effective justice system, while we draw our judges from ordinary ranks of lawyers.
Consider the behaviour and/or integrity of Judges recently; fails to stand up to even a casual scrutiny; yet the profession's arbiter is the law society. A closed shop.
It is little wonder the legal profession is oft referred to as sanctimonious bottom-feeders. Moreover, relying on the Privy Council, you at least were judged by peers, people not tainted by New Zealand system. Time for change I say.
Re Barrie Davis comments. Death cannot be ‘adaptive’ – any organism that dies stops contributing its genes to the gene pool so those genes have effectively been selected against. Evolution does not ‘proceed’ – this implies evolution has direction (it doesn’t). For evolution to occur, it is necessary only that there be a variety of genes (i.e. a gene pool). Old genes don’t exist per se – genes remain (become ‘old’) because they are (continuously) selected for. ‘New’ genes spontaneously arise through mutation. (Most ‘new’ genes are not advantageous and are selected against.) Be careful when invoking evolutionary principles…
Reply to Anonymous at 10:32. ‘proceed’ does not imply direction; in the context of evolution it means (Oxford Concise) “begin a course of action. go on to do something. (of an action) carry on or continue.” Proceed refers to the process of evolution, which entails replication, variation (mutation) and selection.
‘New’ genes are the product of variation (mutation) and are subject to selection, whereas ‘Old’ existing genes do not change. Spontaneous variation (mutation) due to replication are essential elements of evolution, so the ‘Old’ genes are replaced due to more adaptive variants of ‘New’ genes. As a consequence something like 98% of all species have gone extinct. ‘Old’ genes are NOT continuously selected for.
I therefore stand by what I wrote.
He -he. All this talk of genes. I am one who chose to take himself out of the gene pool by not having children. I have either robbed the World of the best it could have had or saved it from a fate worse than ... Frankly, I think I hve saved any potential child from haing to deal with what is coming to an overcrowded Planet. I certainly saved them from the Apartheid of New Zimbabwe.
Anonymous at 1:26 I concur with your sentiments. In old age I now find myself looking to the Freudian Thanatos, the Greek God of Death, as my impending escape from this foolishness. Perhaps that is my bias for an evolutionary explanation.
Ross talking about the Privy Council being replaced by the Supreme Court was stupod. NZ is a small Counyry and everybody knows everybody. Take Christchurch where the Judicisry and the lawyers are closely tied. They were all at Law School together, flatted together then worked in law firms together and even married the sisters! Talk about in bed oops sorry inbred !! Aunty Helen and Margaret had an agenda alright
Succinctly put Mr. Thorne. While somewhat jocular, it certain describes it most accurately.
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