Editorial [The Law Journal : Volume 2 : Issue 1]

Abstract

IN welcoming the long-awaited return of Self-Government we cannot but recall the words of His Honour the Chief Justice in the inaugural address of the Law Society: "It is the hearty and disinterested co-operation of the rising generation, to which you belong, that will make the grant of Self-Government a success especially in its experimental stages''. That these words were taken to heart is evidenced by the large number of past law students who are taking part in the political awakening. The importance of the lawyer's part in the future conduct of Self-Government cannot be overestimated for, as Lord Macmillan points out, "the law provides the citizen with a mechanism of life whereby all the incidents of his relations with his fellow beings are regulated and the element of friction eliminated by definite and familiar adjustments". It is true that as Froude observes, ''our human laws are but the copies, more or less imperfect, of the eternal laws, so far as we can read them" and that the law as framed and administered by fallible human beings must always fall short of the ideal standard of justice, but, on the other hand it is equally true that it is the lawyer's privilege, as it is his duty, to promote that kind of order in the community which results from the formulation and administration of just laws. In taking an active part under Self-Government let our legislators bear in mind Lecky's warning that "Legislation is only really successful when it is in harmony with the general spirit of the age. Law and statesmen for the most part indicate and ratify, but do not create. They are like the hands of the watch which move obedient to the hidden machinery behind.''