Justice is an illusion
Justice Ariff opined that while the Federal Court recognised the power of the court to question whether an act of the Legislative Assembly has any legal basis or otherwise, any act of the Assembly which is supported by any legal basis would be immune from such scrutiny.
Art Harun, The Malaysian Insider
It’s really tough being a judge. Really, I think it’s a thankless job. A judge can never do any right.
I think it was in 1996 that a soon-to-be-really-famous High Court judge politely asked me and my opponent whether we would mind remaining in his chambers for some small talk after we had finished our hearing before him. As I had no other case to do, I obliged the judge. So did my opponent.
He asked both of us how long we had been practising. I told him I had practised for about 10 years. He smiled and said that I could be a judge soon (as the Federal Constitution states that a person who has been a lawyer for 10 years or more can be a judge).
I was wondering what was on the judge’s mind. He looked tired. Something was bothering him. He looked and behaved almost like he was resigned to the hopelessness of it all. He was looking at both me and my opponent intently. There was something that he wanted to say but couldn’t.
Finally he asked, “What do you think of justice?” My opponent was senior to me and so he answered first. I can’t really remember what my opponent said. After he had finished saying his piece, the judge looked at me. “What do you think?” he asked me.
I looked at him and without hesitation I said, “Judge, I don’t believe in justice!” He was petrified! I know he was going to ask why the hell I was practising law then. Before he did so, I continued, “Judge, human beings are incapable of dispensing justice. Only God can do so. Justice is subjective. The winning party will say they have got justice. The losing party will never say so.”
The Judge was unimpressed. He looked deep in thought. He was clearly ruffled by what I had just said. Finally, he said, “Could you then tell me what I and all my brother judges have been doing all this while? And what you and your learned friends have been doing appearing before us?”
“Judge, I am a law practitioner, not a justice practitioner. You and your brother judges have been dispensing the law all this while. You have been applying the law. In modern societies like ours, adherence with and applying the law brings the connotation that justice is being done. That’s it. Justice is a connotation. It is not real. It is a corollary of the application of the law by the court or judge. The real justice will only be seen when we all die.”
“The law is not always just. Take the land acquisition law for example. How just is a law which permits the government to force a landowner to surrender his land to the government? But if the law is applied and the court imposes a suitable compensation to be paid to the landowner, the perception is that justice is done, but is it really done?” I postulated.
“My God”, the Judge said. My opponent was cringing in his seat. “I have never thought about it that way, thank you for telling me,” the Judge said, his eyes brightened up a bit.
