Moving the wheels of justice

Strengthening Bar and Bench:

Attorney-General Mohan Pieris

“The social service that which the Judge renders to the community is the removal of a sense of injustice” -Lord Devlin

Excerpts of the speech delivered by Attorney-General, President’s Counsel Mohan Pieris at the ceremonial sitting at the Supreme Court Complex to welcome the new Supreme Court Judge Justice R K Suresh Chandra

As far back as 1967, the Colombo University Law Faculty welcomed a batch of starry eyed young men from many a public school and later in life these young men went on to carve out special niches in the public life of this country. Some of them represented the country in many parts of the world while some others shone in groves of academe and brought signal honour to the country.

Justice Suresh Chandra belongs to this star spangled batch and today he takes his rightful place in the Supreme Court where he would find good company in his former batch mates the Chief Justice and Justice Gamini Amaratunga who also spent their halcyon days in that illustrious batch of law students.

As the Bench and the Bar so collectively stand in unison today and take pride in your elevation, an occasion such as this cannot go a begging without recalling your life and times. Having had his education at Holy Cross College, Kalutara and Thurstan College, Colombo you were called to the Bar in 1972.

You were well-known for your sedulous application to the study and teaching of the law and it became a natural calling for you as you found a kindred soul in the life of your father S S Rajaratnam who was synonymous with legal education and it is no wonder you inherited the ability to impart law at both the Law School your father so painstakingly built as well as the law college and various other universities in the country and this august assembly certainly commands a sizeable number who are justifiably proud to have been your students.

You apprenticed in the chambers of the late Chief Justice S Sharvananda and joined the chambers of E R S R Coomaraswamy PC as a permanent junior, was a legal advisor to many a leading institution in the public and private sectors. In the field of industrial law you were a leader, noteworthy of which was your association with the ILO.

Education and leadership

Law education was yet another area of activity in which you displayed a keen interest and your input in the Commonwealth program was noteworthy, coupled with editorial skills in bringing out the Colombo Appellate Law Reports.

We also note your contribution in the drafting of the Title Registration Act as part of the World Bank project.

We are also aware of the leadership in steering the formation of the US-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce in New York in 2009.

The Supreme Court complex. File photo

At a time when the country was limping back to normality in 2009, your talents were recognized and acknowledged when you were invited by the highest in the land to be our country’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York.

Your suave diplomacy at those critical moments of our country is another feather in your cap and a little known fact that became apparent at the Sri Lankan functions arranged by the mission and the expatriates was your singular ability to entertain the audience, with your repertoire of popular songs – a talent we little knew you possessed.

This long and varied career only demonstrates the multifarious skills you are endowed with and we welcome today a truly versatile Judge.

You were a most genial and considerate colleague at the Bar and it is no secret that your unfailing courtesy, genial disposition and unruffled composure endeared you to everyone and all and you were remotely capable of a harsh rebuke or abrasive remarks to a fellow Lawyer. These are essential attributes that ought to characterize judicial office and the boundless patience and tolerance that your exalted calling demand as a necessary concomitant of your sacred office are certainly characteristics you amply possess.

It is apt to remember Sir Francis Bacon’s advice in his Essay on the Judicature which Lord Denning approves of in his trilogy of monographs.

”Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of justice; and an over-speaking judge, they say, is an ill tuned cymbal.

It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might have heard in due time from the Bar or to show quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel too short; or to prevent information by questions, even though pertinent.”

The advice presupposes that the counsel must be able to advance his case in his own way and persuade the Judge without any predisposition on the part of the judge. This perennial wisdom, goes on the premise that a litigant must not be left with the feeling that his case has been prejudged before his counsel has been heard.

Triple obligation

One school of thought takes the view that a judge should not ask questions too soon, nor too many, nor interrupt counsel until a convenient time arrives. Lord Atkin who belonged to the other school of thought advocated reading of the pleadings carefully beforehand and posing searching questions right from the beginning. Whichever school one may prefer, one golden thread runs through the gamut of our legal system which is echoed in the words of Lord Devlin.

”The social service that which the Judge renders to the community is the removal of a sense of injustice.” If one goes by this motto we take it that judges have not sworn to do injustice. In his coat of arms a judge takes as his motto ”Fiat Justitia” (Let Justice be done).

If I were to take a leaf out of the professional life of Justice Suresh Chandra as something that we can emulate in the legal profession is the message he has always portrayed namely the corresponding duty imposed on the part of the legal fraternity is no less rigorous.

As you have already brought out the message we in the legal profession are under a triple obligation. An obligation to his clients to be faithful to them till the last, an obligation to the profession not to besmirch its name by anything done by him, and an obligation to the court to be and to remain a dependable part of the machinery through which justice is administered.

Simply put, an attorney is enjoined to remind himself that he is not merely the counsel of client but also an officer of the Court to further the ends of Justice. Similarly, the attorney maintains towards his opponent utmost cordiality. Clients and not counsel are litigants. The ill-feelings between clients should not be allowed to influence the conduct of their counsel.

Says Daniel Webster: “lawyers on opposite sides of a case are like the two parts of shears, they cut what comes between them, but not each other”.

In the same way, Law being a fraternity, the profession is entitled to loyal support of its members in the maintenance of this tradition. Certain duties of advocates towards his profession embody a host of ideals such as professional courtesy, co-operation, equal consideration to all members of the profession and encouragement of junior brethren. Corruption and dishonest conduct in the profession are anathema to the maintenance of dignity.

Chief Justice Marshal of the United States once stated: “the fundamental aim of Legal Ethics is to maintain the honour and dignity of the Law Profession, to secure a spirit of friendly co-operation between the Bench and the Bar in the promotion of highest standards of justice, to establish honourable and fair dealings of the counsel with his client, opponent and witnesses; to establish a spirit of brotherhood in the Bar itself; and to secure that lawyers discharge their responsibilities to the community generally.

Chariot of Justice

The Bench and the Bar are said to be the two wheels of the chariot of justice. They take the credit for achievements in the administration of justice.

In the same way they run the risk of taking the blame for all its ill if they come upon us. In a post conflict society where everyone is vibrant with ideas to develop our country, several institutions need reforms and revisions not to mention both legal and judicial establishments.

I conclude with a pertinent statement recently made at the Fourteenth Sessions of the Human Rights Council in Geneva by the Special Rapporteur, on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriella Carina de E Silva, a Brazilian judge of no mean repute.

”Efficient and effective continuous capacity building are indispensable for the judiciary and attorneys to discharge their functions as a means of strengthening the national systems.”

Therefore, it is universal call for an inward search as the respective roles of these two branches of the legal system have undergone changes and the chariot of justice cannot move on without efficient and effective strengthening of the two important wheels.

As we introspect and search for way and means to strengthen and advance the pristine glory of our legal and judicial systems, on behalf of the Bar I extend our best wishes to Justice Suresh Chandra in his judicial endeavours which I am sure will redound to the benefit of our jurisprudence.