Justice can’t enjoy the luxury of being blind

Prof George W. Kanyeihamba

What you need to know:

Judgments. In the jurisprudence of the world, the most memorial judgments and judges are those which were formulated and delivered courageously when justice was not blind, but wide awake and conscience of its duty.

In the world today, the notion that justice is blind is outmoded, obsolete and totally inapplicable.
In fact, legal research sociology and Political Science show quite clearly that from the beginning of time and existence of mankind, justice has never been blind.
Historical books and recollections of human evolution and development reveal that justice has always been awake, but simply manipulated to appear blind or treat events and acts as wrong or right according to the most successful manipulator.

The best illustrations of the theory that justice has never been blind are recorded in many cultures, civilisations and philosophies zeroing in on its characteristic to be eternally awake and assert its impartiality, majesty and righteousness.

Thus, in African jurisprudence, the monkey should not resolve the disputes in the forest. In Western concept of justice no man or woman should judge a matter in which he or she is party. There are numerous similar notions in all other philosophies of the world.
Some of the noblest and profound sentiments in the history of mankind have always been pronounced and recorded when justice was wide awake with open clear vision, but not blind.

In Christendom, Adam and Eve would not have fled and run away from God if justice had been blind. The famous judgment of King Solomon of Israel when two women were claiming a baby to be their own, or in Shakespeare’s Portia’s judgment between a Venetian nobleman and merchant Shylock would not have occurred.
Conversely, if man had not blinded justice, Shylock would not have been unfairly deprived of all his property. Jomo Kenyatta, Robert Mugabe, Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus or Nelson Mandela would not have been convicted and jailed.

In today’s world of selfish and sectarian leaders such as Donald Trump, Theresa May, and several African and Asian leaders, justice cannot afford to be blind.
In the jurisprudence of the world, the most memorial judgments and judges are those which were formulated and delivered courageously when justice was not blind, but wide awake and conscience of its duty, not to individuals, rulers, kings, dictators or emperors but to the needs, rights and aspirations of society as a whole.

Thus, Thomas More on the eve of his execution and resisting everyone’s plea to him to beg mercy and submit to the king’s demand, humbly but firmly declared: “I am the king’s loyal servant, but God’s first.”
Justice Holmes of the USA said justice is experience, Lord Atkin pronounced the neighbour principle in tort, Lord Denning championed common sense and five judges of the Uganda Supreme Court dissented from the majorities in 2001 and 2006 presidential petition orders all because justice was not blind, but awake to the facts, circumstances and environment of each petition.
Therefore, wherever there is a wrong to be corrected or a desired remedy to be awarded, justice cannot enjoy the luxury of being blind.

Prof Kanyeihamba is a retired Supreme Court judge.
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