Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1901 — Queer Ideas of Justice. [ARTICLE]

Queer Ideas of Justice.

Some of the justices of this city appear to have taken a singular view of their duties and prerogatives, says a recent Manchester, England, dispatch. The case of Hugo Shaw and W. H. Hughes—who have rightly resigned a position for which they were, clearly unfitted —has created a great sensation, and has drawn a letter from the home secretary in approval of the censure of the city justices. These two gentlemen have escaped lightly, for they were guilty of about as scandalous a breach of magisterial decorum as can be imagined. From the report furnished by the chief constable we gather that when a local publican was to be summoned for permitting drunkenness on his premises these two justices made repeated attempts to induce’ the police to refrain from prosecuting. Moreover, when the case was called on they were found on the bench, and when the police shifted the case to the other court, Messrs. Shaw and Hughes moved after them. Having done all they could to stop the case they thrust themselves upon the bench out of their turn.- There is a strong hint in the chief constable’s report that undue influence is frequently brought to bear on licensing cases in Manchester.