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Judges urged to think long, hard
NATIONAL Court and Kimbe resident judge
Justice David Cannings has urged judges to think long and hard before
making a decision that might be seen as changing the law overnight.
He made this recommendation last Friday while making a ruling following
an application by a man seeking damages for wrongful termination from
his job as a carpenter with New Britain Palm Oil Limited on the grounds
that he was not given the right to be heard before his dismissal.
Justice Canning said that the duties of judges of the National Court of
Justice of PNG was to think long and hard about their duties as
stipulated under the Constitution to do things that judges in other
jurisdictions might find unusual and uncomfortable.
He said a National Court judge was obliged, for example, by section 57
of the Constitution to enforce the human rights of individuals, on his
or her own initiative, if necessary.
“Judges sit on leadership tribunals and non-judicial bodies that are
required to investigate and inquire into alleged misconduct in office by
leaders.”
He said judges, who sit in the Supreme Court, could be asked to make
profound value judgments on whether laws made by the Parliament were
reasonably justifiable in a democratic society, having a proper regard
for the rights and dignity of mankind.
Justice Cannings said judges who sit in criminal trials without juries,
decide on innocence or guilt and pass sentences including death penalty,
and that judges were required to consider the “appropriateness” of the
underlying law – the unwritten law comprising the customary law of the
people of a country and the common law.
He also cited an earlier case in which remarked: “Judges have been
invested with ‘a coalition of tremendous and humbling powers’ and
‘frightening responsibilities’ to select, discard, interpret, modify and
apply the law.
“The duty statement of a PNG judge is imposing indeed. It includes the
power and duty to check, examine, critically analyse, develop and that
means changes, if necessary, the underlying law,” he said.
Justice Cannings said if that was judicial legislation, then “so be it”.
 
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