A Hundred Reasons for a Judges Act

Here is how it goes. We haven't seen Justice Bao on television for a long time, and Pao Lung-hsing seems out of place in this era. Courts no longer display plaques reading 'Bright Mirror High-Hanging,' nor do bailiffs shout 'Silence!', and judges certainly don't have a crescent moon glowing on their foreheads. So what do today's courts and judges actually look like? As a neutral third party listening to a dispute, what should our expectations be for this group of 'Honorable Judges'?

Last week, I happened to visit a university to discuss sentencing issues in the Yang Ju-men case. A student raised their hand and responded that their family also grows fruit, so they deeply understood the feeling that 'cheap grain hurts farmers.' If they were a judge, they could 'empathize' as well. Yes, we need judges like this, but the 'vast minority' of judges in our country are nothing like this! Entering the judgment seat in their twenties right after graduation without ever stepping foot in society—which is precisely how we get classic cases like a judge telling a sexual assault victim to 'bring the horn-shaped evidence forward.' Because we do not want judges produced purely by 'examinations,' we need something called the Judges Act.

Social movements are in fact inextricably linked to legal litigation. Whether it is the Su Chien-hsuan case that has dragged on for over a decade, the administrative litigation and state compensation pursued by the grandpas and grandmas in the Losheng Sanatorium case, the Smangus windblown Zelkova tree incident, the Gin Gin Books case, the Yang Ju-men case, or the groups and individuals constrained by the Assembly and Process Act, we demand 'justice' in individual cases. We cannot bear some of the absurd and outrageous reasoning given by judges in their rulings, and that is why we need something called the Judges Act.

These cases may seem too far removed from you. Unlike politicians who can claim special expenses for invoices aside from lottery draws, what if you have a dispute with someone but cannot get justice? What if you are grabbed on the chest for ten seconds and it doesn't constitute a crime? What if you are framed by the police and denied a fair trial? Your parents, friends, or even 'if' you happen to encounter the same legal event 'by chance' and run into this 'vast minority' of terrible judges—watching the person sitting on the bench doze off, trim their nails, and pay no attention to what is being said below—you will regret not supporting us back then. If you do not want to encounter judges who treat the courtroom like a beauty salon, we need something called the Judges Act.

In this era emphasizing professionalism, almost every industry has explicitly established relevant regulations. Whether it is doctors in the White Tower, journalists who call themselves the 'uncrowned kings,' or even professional roles like teachers and lawyers, laws act as checks and balances on professions precisely to prevent 'arrogance.' Yet precisely because everyone else is governed by laws, judges remain unmanageable. Our Constitution guarantees that judges, regardless of whether they 'do a good job or a terrible job,' can stay on the bench 'until their eyes close shut.' Therefore, we need something called the Judges Act.

A Judges Act allows those sitting on the judgment seat to be selected through a definite mechanism; a Judges Act keeps lazy judges on their toes; a Judges Act allows incompetent judges to step down and take a bow; and only a Judges Act can ensure the quality of our adjudication, achieving 'rewarding the excellent and eliminating the inferior.' Because the current system completely fails to achieve such effects, we need something called the Judges Act.

In our country, some judges ought to be eliminated, some rulings are utterly absurd, and justice always arrives late. Yet those government officials and legislators who curse judges with one breath while constantly running to court to sue each other with the next fail to realize these problems, leaving the people with no choice but to take to the streets themselves. If you feel that all of this might concern you, you are welcome to stand up with us, pass the Judges Act, expose bad judges, and let justice be vindicated.

※ This article was published in POT (Pò Pò) on 2007/10/25. This is the complete and unedited text.