“It is, then, a rule always observed in practice, and of the
application of which instances not unfrequently occur that,
where a judge is interested in the result of a cause, he
cannot, either personally or by deputy, sit in judgment upon
it.”[8]
This rule had its earliest and most authoritative judicial statement in
an opinion by an eminent judge of England, who has always been quoted
for integrity in times when integrity was rare: I mean Chief Justice
Hobart, of the Court of Common Pleas. In his own Reports, cited as
Hobart’s Reports, I call attention to the case of _Day_ v. _Savadge_,
where this learned magistrate said:--
“It was against right and justice, and against natural equity,
to allow them [the Mayor and Aldermen of London] their
certificate, wherein they are to try and judge their own cause.”
And then he says, in memorable language, which has made his name
famous:--
“Even an Act of Parliament, made against natural equity, as, to
make a man judge in his own case, is void in itself; for _jura
naturæ sunt immutabilia_, and they are _leges legum_.”[9]
Thus strongly and completely did he cover the present case, reaching
forward with judgment. According to him, even an Act of Parliament
making a man judge in his own case is void. But, Sir, he was not alone.
His great contemporary, and our teacher at this hour, Sir Edward Coke,
in a very famous case, known as _Bonham’s_, which I have not before
me now, but which is referred to in other cases, lays down the same
rule,--that a court of justice will not even recognize an Act of
Parliament, if it undertakes to make a man judge in his own case.[10]
But another judge, who, as lawyer and authority in courts down to this
day, perhaps excels even the two already cited,--I mean Lord Chief
Justice Holt,--has explained and developed this principle in masterly
language. I refer to what is known as Modern Reports, in the case of
_The City of London_ v. _Wood_, where he says:--
“I agree, where the city of London claims any freedom or
franchise to itself, there none of London shall be judge or
jury; for there they claim an interest to themselves against
the rest of mankind.”