*Pic: of William Blackstone … serial liar …
People can lie; circumstances cannot. – Legal maxim
The systems are the adversary system used in common law countries, England and its former colonies, the US, India, Canada, Australia, NZ etc, and the more widespread inquisitorial (truth-seeking) system used in France and elsewhere.
William II institutionalised corruption before he was shot dead on 2 August 1100 ( Wikipedia here ); he put every public office on sale; buyers in turn extorted bribes from people who dealt with the office. That system continued for more than two centuries. Among the consequences:
• In 1166, the common law began as an extortion racket; lawyers were the natural bagmen for extorting judges.
• Richard Posner, a US economist/judge, said judges and lawyers have always been a cartel. Members of a cartel collude to increase profits.
• Common law judges have never been trained as judges separately from lawyers, as they are in France. They are lawyers trained in sophistry elevated to the bench. Sophistry is lying via false arguments, trick questions etc.
A Sydney judge, Russell Fox, researched the English and continental systems for 11 years. He concluded that justice means fairness, and fairness and morality require a search for the truth.
England and west Europe had used a truth-defeating system since the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. In November 1215, Pope Innocent III persuaded a church-state conference in November 1215 that justice means truth. European courts adopted the moral system, but a few judges in London (pop. c. 25,000) rejected it in 1219. If truth does not matter, anything goes.
Libel law has protected white collar criminals since 1275. By 1350, lawyers dominated Parliament. They still do in English-speaking legislatures.
The adversary system dates from 1460, when the cartel began to redesign civil law to make more money for lawyers. (Lawyers did not then defend criminals; petty criminals had no money, and white collar criminals were protected.)
Judges gradually transferred control of the process to lawyers, including the power to question witnesses. Some opinions of the adversary system:
• Dickens: “The one great principle of the English law is to make business for itself.”
• Yale law professor Fred Rodell: “The legal trade is nothing but a high class racket.” A racket is a criminal enterprise.
• Judge Posner: “ … a contest of liars.”
• US Judge Harold Rothwax: “ … we have a system that is run entirely by lawyers for their own interests and for their own benefit.”
A serial liar …
A serial liar, William Blackstone, opened the first law school at Oxford in 1758. Judge Posner said academics are part of the cartel. Brain-washing/self-deception enable lawyers and judges to believe theirs is the Rolls Royce of justice systems.
Lawyers began to appear in the criminal courts in 1695, but conviction was fairly certain: the system had only five truth-defeating mechanisms; not many criminals wasted money on lawyers. Judges began to encourage rich criminals to pay lawyers about 1800.
Since then, they have increased the truth-defeating mechanisms to 24, including five new rules which omit significant criminal (and civil) evidence. George Orwell said: “Omission is the most powerful form of lie.”
In 1800, Napoleon began work on his monument, reform of Innocent’s system. If Admiral Villeneuve had followed his instructions in 1805, England and its colonies would probably use his system.
Comparison. It should be kept in mind that taxpayers fund legal systems and pay the wages of police, prosecutors, judges, and lawyer-politicians.
In the French system, trained judges control the process and do not let lawyers pollute the truth with sophistry. On a fixed wage, they have no incentive to prolong the process; most hearings take a day or so. The innocent are rarely charged; about 95% of guilty defendants are convicted.
In the adversary system, untrained judges are passive, and lawyers paid by the hour have an incentive to spin the process out. Trials can take weeks or months, but at least 1% (5% in the US) of people in prison are innocent, and more than half guilty defendants get off.
The French system thus delivers more than twice as much justice at less than half the cost to taxpayers. It will not be difficult to change to a similar system; an inquisitorial system is already used for inquests, commissions of inquiry, and various tribunals.
Lawyers are fewer than 1% of the population, and those who are struggling should support the change; it will require six times as many judges. And so will voters, Justice Fox said the public knows that “justice marches with the truth”.
Evan Whitton’s Our Corrupt Legal System is sourced to more than 300 lawyers and judges. China Fangzheng Press has contracted to translate and publish the book in mainland China.
