Ignorantia juris non excusat
If discussing law on your blog was illegal, and you told the judge that you did not know about it you'll probably get a earfuls starting with "Ignorantia juris non excusat.....". How many of us knew this was Latin? (Latin is now a dead language) How many of us know what it means? It means, ignorance of law is not an excuse. This doctrine assumes that the law is sufficiently published and distributed. (Ironically, it does not talk about comprehension).
Let us try to assess how well our (Indian) law is publicized. Are we taught law, or its basics in school? No focus is on getting us to remember Dr. Ambedkar's Birth date, his caste, his conversion, his dad, his mom, everything but his work.
Yes, we have online documents availeble. In English and Hindi
Yes, we have online documents availeble. In English and Hindi
Our law is primarily in English, and only 10-15% Indians can read and comprehend English. And the kind of English that legal speaks,...is way out of our league. Starting from the first sentence of our constitution, "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC"... to all the herewith...thereof....unto....Latin passe.
Although most of us have a sense for what is moral and what is amoral, we cannot say the same about legal affairs. We place a huge amount of trust in the wisdom our Judges, keepers of our legal system. I believe we need to Judge their Judgement. Do we have a system which holds the Judges accountable for their judgement? Is there a mechanism whereby we gauge the efficacy of a judgement?
I'll start with the Supreme court ruling ordering citizens to remove dark sun films. (Writ petition-civil, number 265 of year 2011, you may search and read the judgement here). Throughout, the Judgement seems to have the impression that sun films CAUSE these heinous crimes. It fails to recognize that the tint was only an accessory to the crime. Kidnapping, act of terrorism etc. are planned crimes. If not tinted cars they'll use another vehicle like a goods car, with no windows at all. They could use curtains! We seem to have seriously undermined the ingenuity of our criminals.
If the ruling has any merit to it, we should see a decrease in crime rate after the ruling. And if there is no significant decrease in crime rate, would the car owners who had their sun films removed, and manufacturers of sun films have any remedy? Can we hold anyone accountable for thefts, and petty crimes that happen because there was no tint?
The petitioner in this case is Avishek Goenka. He has few other petitions in SC against TRAI and other such public bodies. What is his motive to file such petitions. I have no reason to question Mr. Goenka's intentions. He may be a good Samaritan. But it is for the court to decide if it is the right thing to do.
On the other hand, what's a little sunlight if you can save a life? And like Nicholas Taleb points out in his book, "Things always become obvious after the fact". Eg: had some judge ruled that all cockpits be sealed and only pilots can enter through the front entrance, Sep 11 would never have happened. And because it has never happened people would never know the importance of the judgement.
Measuring efficacy of a judgement can be illusive. But how then can we hold the judiciary accountable for their actions? Their decisions have implications on all our lives, our jobs, our salaries, our taxes etc.
Although most of us have a sense for what is moral and what is amoral, we cannot say the same about legal affairs. We place a huge amount of trust in the wisdom our Judges, keepers of our legal system. I believe we need to Judge their Judgement. Do we have a system which holds the Judges accountable for their judgement? Is there a mechanism whereby we gauge the efficacy of a judgement?
I'll start with the Supreme court ruling ordering citizens to remove dark sun films. (Writ petition-civil, number 265 of year 2011, you may search and read the judgement here). Throughout, the Judgement seems to have the impression that sun films CAUSE these heinous crimes. It fails to recognize that the tint was only an accessory to the crime. Kidnapping, act of terrorism etc. are planned crimes. If not tinted cars they'll use another vehicle like a goods car, with no windows at all. They could use curtains! We seem to have seriously undermined the ingenuity of our criminals.
If the ruling has any merit to it, we should see a decrease in crime rate after the ruling. And if there is no significant decrease in crime rate, would the car owners who had their sun films removed, and manufacturers of sun films have any remedy? Can we hold anyone accountable for thefts, and petty crimes that happen because there was no tint?
The petitioner in this case is Avishek Goenka. He has few other petitions in SC against TRAI and other such public bodies. What is his motive to file such petitions. I have no reason to question Mr. Goenka's intentions. He may be a good Samaritan. But it is for the court to decide if it is the right thing to do.
On the other hand, what's a little sunlight if you can save a life? And like Nicholas Taleb points out in his book, "Things always become obvious after the fact". Eg: had some judge ruled that all cockpits be sealed and only pilots can enter through the front entrance, Sep 11 would never have happened. And because it has never happened people would never know the importance of the judgement.
Measuring efficacy of a judgement can be illusive. But how then can we hold the judiciary accountable for their actions? Their decisions have implications on all our lives, our jobs, our salaries, our taxes etc.
thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteJudging the judgment of a judge is a tough ask. But, then who judges the judge, another judge?
Interesting thoughts, Akshay! We can probably call this as a "Judicial Lokpal". Accountability functions, at most occasions, are good to have, though they come with a demerit of slowing the system down (among others). This is an evil we can't ignore, especially in our system where the time for an outcome is simply unreal! So the question is not whether an accountability system is required, rather how to implement it post elimination of attached negatives.
ReplyDeleteI am more aligned towards the school of thought briefly touched upon in the initial part of your work i.e. imparting basic knowledge at (relatively) elementary levels. We need to have a format that is accessible and understandable to the common public not only specialist of the subject. For e.g. a sequence of short advertisements like "Jago Grahak" that demystifies the complex structure and makes it comprehendible for the audience for whom the law is actually intended. Some may argue, that this may lead to more people finding newer ways of breaching the law. But, I believe, thats the principle of evolution! Like hackers and virus programmers lay the foundation for the next generation security systems that are more robust.
Would appreciate comments.
Thanks for reading.
-Vinay.
Thanks for your comments people. @Vinay, it may slow the system down. (it most certainly will) But a judgement takes a very long time as it is. And corruption is creeping in to judiciary as well. How do you propose to stop it? SC quashing the Mayavati's case, Yaddi's case etc makes me doubt the integrity of judges (I have not looked at the facts of the case though)
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ReplyDeleteI am waiting and watching to see the rate at which the crime would decrease after this judgement. There are much bigger issues to be taken care of as of now , than just solving probably 1% of the problem. Take stricter action against these criminals. I know there are many laws but are these really implemented. Just like the way cops keep a watch on tinted glassed vehicles and fine them , it would be great if they would keep the same watch on these crime.
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