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Posted July 12, 2024

Justice for profit

'Built by lawyers for lawyers': people self-representing in court face challenges”.

This is the caption on a large photo of the Victoria Court House - northern facade. It is also the title of the Times-Colonist article associated with that picture, written by “Roxanne Egan-Elliott, June 30, 2024".

I will take issue with the title of the article, because if we let it be, it will root in the fertile Land of Myth and grow on the slippery slope to fiction, confusing conversation and also setting civilization on that slippery slope.

I will start with the assertion that the Justice system is “Built by lawyers for lawyers”. Most likely you have heard and read it before and now it feels familiar, like an old sweater your wife will no longer patch. But stop and think about it.

Think of a society, your society, where justice is “privatised” and metamorphosed into a Profit generating system. Think and decide for yourself, for your family, your friends and all of us.

I will move on to the second half of the title that which reads: “people self-representing in court face challenges”. With only the Lawyers to operate the system they retain exclusive control over the entire operation. Because

a court may declare something “unconstitutional” (which can be onerous to erase) things like these combined with other factors render the governance of the society into “Taxidermized Democratia”, better known in the English- speaking world by the trade name “democracy”.

Let’s peruse the assertion that “our” Justice System is “Built by lawyers for lawyers” and is designed and operated to yield maximum profit to its real owners, the Lawyers. For that I suggest we go to the “top” and tap the mind of a veteran “governor” of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, now retired the Rt Hon Chief Justice of Canada. She is on record endorsing the assertion that we are governed by three “Estates”, namely, the “Executive”, the “Legislative” and the “Judicial” Estates. The Heads of the three Estates, and only they, are entitled to the “Rt Hon” title; the rest of the 40 million of us are deemed “lesser” beings. As for “Ēgalite”, well, the revolution was long ago ...

McLachlin was the boss of the “Judiciary Estate” for some 18 years, which is longer than anyone else has ever been. Surely her words carry much weight and we should be grateful for the governing she has done to us over the years.

Evidently, Beverley saw nothing untoward in being a Lawyer and a member of the governing triumvirate of Canada. She is on record advocating that more legal aid be made available to prevent young offenders going to jail.

McLachlin unabashedly asserted that Judges are paid high wages and enjoy virtually life-long tenure in their lucrative posts so that they may resist the temptation to act “partially” in the course of their work. Themis, the Goddess of Justice, demonstrates the importance of Judicial impartiality by blindfolding herself. It does not matter who is shopping for Justice, all that matters is the truth of the facts and the fairness of their assessment. It is disconcerting when a society has to pay judges a “virtue surcharge” while the rest of the Populace do an honest days’ work virtue-fee “free”.

In that milieu, is it not utterly naive to believe that a Justice System “built by Lawyers for Lawyers” is “trustworthy”? Could it be that Themis wears the blindfold to spare herself exposure to the ugly state of affairs in our society’s Justice system?

As I mentioned earlier, the digital version of this article is subtitled: “Every accused has a constitutional right to represent themselves and no court can override that decision....” I take exception with that assertion. The way I look at that is that the Constitution allows handicapped people to be “represented” in a court of Law, as needed, to the full extent needed so that Justice may not be compromised. This is logical and ethical. And contrasts sharply the “constitutional right of a litigant” to hire a sleek “operator” who can charm a judge like a trained snake charmer can make a snake dance. Like Charles Dickens put it, it is bad criminals who make good Lawyers.

The Lawyers who built the system, built it for themselves, as the title of the article recognises. To that end they designed it as an adversarial contest, not unlike spectator sports are, like Bullfighting, Cockfighting, or even Wimbledon ...

Well, we are all familiar with and proud for “our” Justice system “Built by lawyers for lawyers”. In their Majestic impartiality, the Lawyers embedded into the “system” the facility to whitewash culpability from those who are guilty and so become “innocent”. You see from the title of this article that the system is made by lawyers for Lawyers . Instead of going to jail, we can hire a lawyer, pay a steep fee and presto you get laundered sparkling clean, court certified so.

Nothing new really. In medieval times, “Absolution Letters” were sold by the church. By purchasing one, you could stay out of Hell which was a place reputably worse than jail.