Читать книгу The Gun Alley Tragedy: Record of the Trial of Colin Campbell Ross онлайн

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But the position of the bar in these matters has been well settled. The same view was presented by Lord Chief Justice Reading in 1916 as by Erskine in 1792. When Erskine took a brief for the defence of Tom Paine 130 years ago, and insisted on holding it in spite of the protests of the courtiers, his obstinacy, says Lord Chief Justice Campbell, in his “Lives of the Chancellors,” was much condemned “by many well-meaning people, ignorant of professional etiquette, and of what is required by a due regard for the proper administration of criminal justice.” But Erskine appeared, and on the trial, referring to the storm which his conduct had provoked, he said:—

“Little, indeed, did they know me who thought that such calumnies would influence my conduct. I will for ever, at all hazards, assert the dignity, independence and integrity of the English bar, without which impartial justice, the most valuable part of the British Constitution, can have no existence. From the moment that any advocate can be permitted to say that he will or will not stand between the Crown and the subject arraigned in the court where he daily sits to practice, from that moment the liberties of England are at an end. If the advocate refuses to defend from what he may think of the charge or of the defence, he assumes the character of the judge; nay, he assumes it before the hour of judgment; and, in proportion to his rank and reputation, puts the heavy influence of, perhaps, a mistaken opinion into the scale against the accused, in whose favor the benevolent principle of English law makes all presumptions, and which commands the very judge to be his counsel.”