Report No. 58
Opinion of distinguished persons in democratic countries-Churchill's speech
10.10. Having summarised the position of the evidence which we have to consider in dealing with the question, and having dealt with the question whether Judges can be compared to members of the administrative service, we propose to refer to the opinion expressed by important and distinguished persons in two democratic countries, in order that our discussion in this Chapter, and the recommendations which we propose to make, should be considered by the Union Government in their proper perspective. When Churchill moved a Bill for raising the salaries of Judges in England on the 23rd March, 1954, he paid a tribute to the service rendered by Judges and bore eloquent testimony to the importance and significance of their work. Said Churchill.1
"The service rendered by Judges demands the highest qualities of learning, training and character. These qualities are not to be measured in terms of pounds, shillings and pence according to the quality of work done. A form of life and conduct far more severe and restricted than that of ordinary people is required from Judges and, though unwritten, has been most strictly observed. They are at once privileged and restricted. They have to present a continuous aspect of dignity and conduct... The Bench must be the dominant attraction to the legal profession, yet it rather hangs in the balance now, and heavily will our society pay if it cannot command the finest characters and the best legal brains which we can produce; and heavily will our country pay in an epoch where our relative material power has diminished, if we do not sustain these institutions for which we are renowned."
In fact, like many of Churchill's utterances, this piece has attained the status of a classic.
1. H.C. Debates (23rd March, 1954), Vol. 525, Col. 1061, 1062.
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