15 - Reflections

Summary

In this set of reflections, Sir David Baragwanath, former Justice of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, part-time President of the Court of Appeal of Samoa and Appellate Judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague, considers some of the ways in which judges and lawyers situate themselves within the familiar and the foreign. He urges reflection on the challenge of the judicial oath to ‘do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm without fear, favour, affection or ill-will’, as enriched by the basic judicial precepts of modestie et audace – caution – and mains tremblantes – the need for care, sensitivity and humility – to control personal predilections and learn and comprehend the distinctive values that underlie what, to an outsider, is novel jurisprudence. Judges ought to strive for a ‘periscope’ approach, in order to penetrate the mists of their own education and experience and search for answers congruent with the values of the unfamiliar law or society illuminated by a vision of its highest standards.