The Government of the British Empire (Volume 73-161)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XI THE KING'S COURTS OF JUSTICE Nothing has contributed more to the stability of the British Empire, or the respect in which it is held, than the evenhanded dispensing of justice which has distinguished its tribunals, from the highest to the lowest, for the last two hundred years. And though the variety of the institutions of the different parts of the Empire, which is the great proof of the principle of liberty which animates British policy, is manifest no less in judicial than in other spheres of government, yet it will be found that the same great qualities of independence, purity, fairness, and patience, which distinguish the judges of the United Kingdom, are equally conspicuous in the judges of the Dominions, the Crown colonies, and British India. English Judicial Institutions Moreover, though it is quite true, as has been said, that each part of the Empire has its own judicial system, with its - own peculiar features, yet it can hardly be doubted that, in matters of arrangement and procedure, the courts of the Dominions and British India have, to a very large extent, followed English models, even where the common law of England does not prevail--the prevalence of the jury system, an unmistakeably English feature, is a striking example. Finally, the fact that there lies, in almost all important cases, a last appeal from all courts of justice in the British Empire, except, curiously enough, the courts of the United Kingdom itself, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, renders a fairly complete description of English judicial methods desirable. CRIMINAL JUSTICE 247 Criminal Justice For practical purposes, all cases which come before English courts of justice may be classed as either criminal or civil; and the arrangement of the E...