extract from a speech made by a former chief Justice

Extract of a speech of His Lordship Basnayaka CJ

“It is very necessary that a Judge should be courteous and polite. He thereby enhances the dignity of the court and the dignity of justice. There have been occasional complaints of rudeness and the use of rough language on the part of the Judges. Rudeness and rough language are unbecoming of a Judge, and every effort should be made to avoid such inclinations or tendencies. The old saying that the law is no respecter of persons means that the law respects all persons equal, not that there are some who are not respected. 

So that when a person comes into Court, he should know that he is given a certain amount of respect. There is a tendency, through unconscious, to applaud any discomfiture that befalls a man of position or wealth. For instance, if a man of position is in the witness box and is cross-examined, the tendency on the part of the majority of the Court is to take delight over his discomfort. Now a Judge should avoid adding to that discomfiture of anybody in the witness box because the Judge’s function is to safeguard the witness. 

The evidence ordinance especially vests in him the power to decide what questions to be put to a witness.  A witness who is roughly handled in the witness box deters others from entering the witness box. We all know that it is not easy to get witnesses by in any matter; even among the educated, there is great hesitation to volunteer to give evidence in a case. It is the duty of the Judges to encourage the public to seek the forum, the only forum in which the disputes of the citizen can be settled in an orderly way. You would have often heard a witness say as a matter of special qualification: “I have never stepped into a court of law, even as a witness.”

Former Chief Justice Hema Basnayaka, (1964)