The iconic statue of justice Justitia, the Roman goddess of Justice, or the Greek goddesses Themis is usually shown holding a sword in her right hand, scales in her left and wearing a blindfold. The symbolism is pretty clear. The sword is the power of judicial authority, the scales symbolise the weighing of justice and the blindfold indicates impartiality. In fact, the most famous Justitia in England, on top of the Old Bailey, has no blindfold (which is said to symbolise the close analysis of evidence), but it’s that traditional blindfold that I’m interested in today.
This week three professional legal bodies, the Law Society, the Bar Council and the Institute of Legal Executives, issued guidance on how lawyers should behave when they have a litigant in person on the “the other side”. This is a state of affairs which is becoming ever more common. The withdrawal of legal aid means that an increasing number of litigants in the civil courts simply can’t afford to pay for a lawyer – so they have to do it themselves. The guidance deals with many practical matters and, at least in some cases, suggests that lawyers should help the party on the other side of where their lack of legal knowledge could result in unfairness. This is at least an attempt to achieve something like equality before the law: that everyone should receive equal access to justice, whatever their status. An attempt to put the blindfold back on the statue.
Christians are used to thinking about judicial impartiality too. Just over nine weeks ago, on Good Friday, we were reflecting on a trial in which there was no equality before the law. The judge, Pilate, had the power of life and death over Jesus and he decided to give the mob what they wanted despite his belief that Jesus was innocent. The Acts of the Apostles contains another example of a lack of equality before the law in Acts 22: 22 – 23:11, though there is a twist this time, because it worked to the advantage of the accused. Paul has returned to Jerusalem with the alms that he has collected on his travels. He’s besieged by the mob and a Roman official, the Tribune, has taken him into custody. He is about to administer torture to extract evidence from Paul when he discovers that he is a Roman citizen. Instantly everything changes. Paul is unbound and he is now accorded due process as befits his status as a Roman citizen. You’ll remember that this leads Paul to a further hearing before the Governor in Caesarea and eventually to his final journey to Rome. This reflected the stark contrast in Roman law between the status of a Roman citizen on the one hand and non-citizens on the other. The Roman citizen enjoyed a right to a fair trial which was not available to others.
These days, we tend to understand the notion of a fair trial for all in terms of human rights. It is a right secured by Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights which currently has the force of law in the United Kingdom.
Although Christians have the judicial encounters of Jesus and Paul in front of them, the relationship between Christian ethics and human rights has actually been a fraught one. The Roman Catholic Church set its face against the recognition of human rights in the 18th and 19th centuries and it wasn’t until the papal encyclical, Pacem in terris issued by Pope John 23 in 1963 that the Roman Catholic Church came fully to support the concept of human rights. Protestant thought took a very different course. From an early date, Protestants linked the duties to be found in the Torah (the Ten Commandments, for instance) with corresponding rights. My duty to love you as my neighbour creates your right to be loved by me, etc. Moses took his duties as a judge very seriously (Exodus 18: 14) – even handed treatment was not just for the people of Israel but was required in the treatment of aliens also (Exodus 22: 21). In the Protestant way of thinking, those judicial duties create corresponding rights – a right to a fair trial.
So human rights and Christian ethics are not independent spheres with no point of contact. As Christians we are deeply concerned about human rights, including the right to the fair trial which Paul claimed and which Jesus was denied. The time will soon come when Christians will need to look at proposals to recast human rights in this country, and we’ll need to satisfy ourselves that the blindfold remains secure on the eyes of Justitia.