THE JUDGEMENT of the Judicial Review Court that the Janice Allen verdict cannot be challenged or reopened will unfortunately reinforce the cynicism of a public already disillusioned about the state of justice in Jamaica.
Justice Gloria Smith, in delivering the majority decision of the court, referred to the circumstances of the Janice Allen case as being "sad, tragic, reprehensible and repugnant" but, within the narrow confines of the law, no remedy was available in the Jamaica legal system as it is now constituted. Justice Roy Jones dissented and Janice's mother is to appeal the ruling.
The eminent American jurist Mr. Benjamin Cardozo once famously remarked, "This is not a court of justice, it is a court of law", emphasising a dichotomy that goes back to the Biblical distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. In English jurisprudence, the dilemma was dealt with by the establishment of courts of Equity administered by the Lord Chancellor who was the "keeper of the King's Conscience" and who passed on disputes on the basis of natural justice and fairness. Although no equitable principle, as legally defined, may be involved in the Janice Allen case, 'equitable' as commonly used in the language to mean the righting of an apparent wrong is clearly an issue in the public's mind.
The policeman who was charged for her death was subsequently freed by the court. But the police bungling, false information passed to the courts and destruction of evidence involved in the original case were insidious. Justice Smith has recommended the setting up of an independent body to investigate cases against the police. With reference to other incidents we have already endorsed this view in these columns. But this does not provide a sufficiently high moral authority for dealing with the malignancies that have blighted the Janice Allen affair. We hope that on appeal, some area of the legal system itself can be found to cope with "sad, tragic, reprehensible and repugnant" cases which cry out for justice.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
