In J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting For the Barbarians, the magistrate is highly concerned with being recognized as a good and just man. In “Existentialism is a Humanism”, Jean-Paul Sartre discusses how people should be held accountable for their actions and that it is one’s actions that defines them. Both Coetzee and Sartre discuss what it means to be a good person and what defines an action as good. From an existential viewpoint, if one only causes harm, they would be viewed as a harmful person even if their intentions were perfectly harmless. One the other hand, one who mostly commits good deed would be seen as a fine individual. This idea can be applied to the magistrate in Waiting For the Barbarians. Though the magistrate would like to be …show more content…
The magistrate could have saved them from Colonel Joll and the soldier, but instead, the magistrate chose to protect his job and his relationship with the Empire. Although the magistrate did not torture the barbarians himself, by allowing the torturing to occur, his actions cannot be seen as much better than those of Colonel Joll. When the Empire soldiers decided to publicly torture barbarians, the magistrate received another opportunity to act as a good person and prevent the soldiers from committing such savage acts, but instead, he chose to waste his potential and watch the spectacle alongside the rest of the crowd. While observing the soldiers’ actions, the magistrate states, “Let it at the very least be said, if it ever comes to be said, if there is ever anyone in some remote future interested to know the way we lived, that in this farthest outpost of the Empire of light there existed one man who in his heart was not a barbarian” (Coetzee 104). Though the magistrate may believe that he alone was not a barbarian in terms of how he was feeling, that does not mean that he was a good man. He still chose to stand in the crowd and watch the nomads be tortured and therefore was no better than the rest of the town. As the leader of town, the magistrate had the potential to go up to the military men and stop them from going through with the public display of torture, but the magistrate chose to waste that potential and only reacted once it
The Magistrates’ role was to hear the evidence of distinct cases, criminal or civil matters and decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty to an offence as charged and decide the penalty that will be given to those that are found guilty or plead guilty to an offence. Moreover, the Magistrate determined whether a case should go to a different court or to adjourn the case to another date.
The author is able to show an example of this through the death of a character named Peyton Farquhar. Farquhar met a man on his plantation that told him the Union was advancing towards the bridge “Owl Creek”. Wanting to be a hero, Farquhar decided to burn the bridge. However, he is met by the military and learns he was deceived by a Federal Scout . Although Farquhar did not commit a crime, "his wrist were bound with cord....(and) a rope closely encircled his neck" (Bierce 1). The military had believed that he was going to burn the bridge down, and even though Farquhar was an innocent man, the military hanged him. Farquhar was never able to burn the bridge, therefore he punished as an innocent man. This explains why Bierce believed that civilians are intentionally harmed by
The Courts and Judiciary of the victorian times were stern like today but had a poor system. The Magistrate decided what to do to the accused. If the Magistrate felt there was no case to answer, he could discharge the suspect. If the case was minor, the Magistrate could have the offence ‘summarily’ tried before two other
Authority should and seek justice to maintain the integrity of law and order. This is not the case in the novel as the authority constantly contradicts itself with every authoritative figure nonchalantly stepping across their moral boundaries.
“His testimony was responsible for the execution of some 35 persons, but, as the frenzy subsided, inconsistencies were discovered in his story.”
Captain Thomas Preston, the commander of the soldiers who fired their muskets at the townspeople, talked about the different side of the story. He was aware that the residents and the soldiers didn’t get along but he said he never thought of using violence to solve the conflict. He declared that when his troops walked by Gray’s ropewalk on March 2nd, the rope-makers made fun of the soldiers and insulted them. After a moment of verbal fight (argument), they went into a nonverbal fight (action). Although the soldiers went back to their units afterwards, he said the inhabitants become arrogant and have been continuously abusing the soldiers. He explains that he was informed that the townspeople were up in front of the city hall beating up the troops. He went up trying to pacify the crowd but didn’t succeed. He said he kept shouting to the troops to hold their fire and had never intended to hurt anyone and he did not want to take account for what may happen. It’s convincing that he was
Judge Dee was considered the “Father and Mother Official.” Magistrates function as a judge, jury, prosecutor, and detective. He was the highest power in his district and was in charge of many things. He was in charge of the town, land administration, the tribunal, the bureau for the collection of taxes, the register office, and the public order in the district. Magistrates had to have great moral strength, intellectual power, and refined literati also trained on Chinese letter and arts. Without any of these skills, the magistrate would have failed his job. He would have barely gained any support since these skills were signs of a good leader. The Magistrates were almost miniature monarchs of their own lands. Even though whatever they say is not law, they are able to convict and torture people until they listen. Judge Dee took everything under his control form the detective work to sentences. He used lieutenants and constables to help out, but most work was done single-handedly. No one else I the district has more power than him. A few magistrates in the book even had their own private army for example; the magistrate in Turnip Pass had a garrison to protect the area from criminals. Magistrates are supposed to be truth-seeking men. Judge Dee is obviously truth seeking because he tries to see why the husband died in “The Strange Corpse” even though no one filed a complaint, he did this for righteousness, which is looked for in
In response Wolfe rebutted with the statement, “My commission is at your Highness’s disposal, but I can never consent to be an executioner” (Hart, 216). In this act, Wolfe was able to show that one person can be enthralled with war without being consumed by it entirely.
The idea of striving for goodness has always been something that has been instilled in our minds since birth. We were always taught to the do the right thing. But why? What are the benefits of being a good person versus being bad? This is question that Colin Mcginn tackles in his article, “Why Not Be a Bad Person?” In it, he explains why he think virtue is the more intriguing moral standard, and explores why some people may disagree with him.
The aforementioned lack of legal expertise was felt and cased in ‘The Magistrates Tale’ where T, Grove recounts from personal experience that even after 80 sittings he still felt like a novice. T Grove is an ardent cheerleader for the use of magistrates and his passages reflect that as a magistrate is drawn from the local community there is a sense that people are being judged by their peers. John Humphreys shares this opinion and has been cited as stating that ‘if the people sitting up the on the bench are people like us…..then we may be more likely to feel that we have been fairly judged’. Not all aspects of society share this opinion; anecdotal evidence shows that defendants show mistrust in the magistracy as when faced with the option to be tried by the magistrate or a jury a favour is shown toward the jury. This mistrust can be based on the impression of the magistrate by the common man. Even though it is desired that the magistrate represent a cross section of society the majority of magistrates are middle aged, middle class, white men. The mistrust however could also be down to a misplaced view that magistrates begin to become sceptical of lines of defence, that they start to recognises defendants traits and in turn show bias to similar defendants, they become ‘case hardened’. However this can be counteracted with the fact that a magistrate is
Among the virtues, Cicero grants precedence to the fellowship of men and deems justice “the most illustrious of the virtues, on account of which men are called ‘good’” (9). Consequently, Cicero enumerates in detail the ways in which one can exemplify this virtue, so as to be considered a good man. The duties of justice concern themselves “with preserving fellowship among men, with assigning to each his own, and with faithfulness to agreements one has made” (7). For the political man, maintaining community among citizens is the foremost duty of justice. As to the subliminal caveat for the populace, which allows one to determine the justness of a man, Cicero posits, “on the question of keeping faith, you must always think of what you meant, not of what you said” (18). Furthermore, of injustice, Cicero asserts, “nothing deserves punishment more than that of men who, just at the time when they are most betraying trust, act in such a way that they might appear to be good men” (19). This interpolation, as Cicero completes the doctrine concerning justice, portends the purpose of his third virtue.
Magistrates hear a broad range of different cases meaning that they can help with most issues and cases. Magistrates usually only receive expenses which saves the legal system hundreds of millions of pounds every year. Members of the community are able to participate in the administration of justice which promotes the idea of an open system. The public have trust and confidence in Magistrates as they are not professional members of the criminal justice system.
It is better to be morally just than unjust because it makes one better, as a person. I believe that a morally just person, will get good things in return. The consequences of doing good are more favorable than those of not being good. Being good means being a good citizen. It is important that we do good things because we will gain approval from people that are important to us. Being congratulated is better than being scorned because it makes one feel satisfied. However, regardless of reward, it is better to be a good person, than a bad person “And this, then, is the genesis and being of justice: it is a mean between what is best—doing injustice without paying the penalty—and what is worst—suffering injustice without being able to avenge oneself" (359a). Even though bad things happen to good people, and bad people seem to get away with things, the just person is most likely happier. Good people are loved, and respected. Bad people, are typically lonely. One should do the action that results in the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number of people. This is because it is morally right to benefit as many people as possible. While it is better to be a just person, many people are not. Many people believe that there are excuses as to why they can behave unjustly.
Explain and critically consider the use of lay magistrates in the legal system of England and Wales.
At the beginning to the book the magistrate is just an innocent bystander. He works for the Empire and does as he is told with a blind