In Pursuit of Justice provides insight into judiciary

Correspondent | Friday June 21, 2019 12:06

 

The book provides insight into the judicial world and helps the reader understand more about how judicial decisions are made with a unique perspective of a highly regarded internationally recognised jurist in Professor Dr Justice Key Dingake. 

The author is a Judge in Papua New Guinea and has also served as a Judge in his home country of Botswana. The book posits a position that judges function best in democracies. This is indeed a challenging position given the many countries with large judiciaries that operate under non-democratic systems.

The author challenges the reader to conceptualise what is being presented and not to accept it as fact but dig deeper into one’s conscience in order to make an informed analysis as to the validity of the claims being made. This is sobering and delightful because it demonstrates the author’s willingness to share an open approach to subjects that are often times shrouded in secrecy.

Quite a number of legal doctrines and theories are presented including the doctrine of separation of powers that are fundamental for a legal system.  The book provides comparative analysis of different countries, which supports the wider understanding of this critical examination of the connection of philosophy, law and politics.  Whether you are a first year university law student or a retired Judge of the Court of Appeal, this book is happy-reading and once you pick the book up you will not be able to put it down until you have completed it in its entirety.

The courage of the author to plainly state so many ideas that the general public would wish to know but could never quite get answers to makes it intriguing yet informative. It tackles a lot of topics and issues that affect ordinary people.

For those who have a fascination with controversial topics such as judicial politics, this book is a must-read.  It is enlightening and awesome because of the candour with which the chapters are laid out.

The author is very progressive and addresses issues related to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) communities that are significant to the advancement of human rights in the global community. Credibility is always a relevant component of any serious material and the book engenders this through the substance of the work presented by its well-known author with a foreword by the Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea Chief Sir Gibbs Salika, GCL, KBE, CSM, OBE.

This book is worthy of being in academic libraries, personal collections and in the hands of all people. The author promotes the reality that justice is the reason for the law and concludes with the significance of public confidence being important for the judiciary to function effectively.

*Reviewer: John GF Carey, JP is the Executive Director of the Papua New Guinea Centre for Judicial Excellence based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.