This May Or May Not Be Well When The Place Sought For Is
One Of Political Power - When The Duties Required Are Political In
All Their Bearings.
But no one can think it well when the place
sought for is a judge's seat on the bench - when the duties required
are solely judicial.
Whatever hitherto may have been the conduct of
the judges in the courts of the different States, whether or no
impurity has yet crept in, and the sanctity of justice has yet been
outraged, no one can doubt the tendency of such an arrangement. At
present even a few visits to the courts constituted in this manner
will convince an observer that the judges on the bench are rather
inferior than superior to the lawyers who practice before them. The
manner of address, the tone of voice, the lack of dignity in the
judge, and the assumption by the lawyer before him of a higher
authority than his, all tell this tale. And then the judges in
these courts are not paid at a rate which will secure the services
of the best men. They vary in the different States, running from
about 600l. to about 1000l. per annum. But a successful lawyer,
practicing in the courts in which these judges sit, not unfrequently
earns 3000l. a year. A professional income of 2000l. a year is not
considered very high. When the different conditions of the bench
are considered, when it is remembered that the judge may lose his
place after a short term of years, and that during that short term
of years he receives a payment much less than that earned by his
successful professional brethren, it can hardly be expected that
first-rate judges should be found.
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