I do not, however, appeal to Lord Gorell's judgment on all points. It is
inevitable that a judge should be deeply impressed by his professional
experience with a sense of the impotence of judges and laws and courts
to deal satisfactorily with evils which are so Protean and elusive as to
defy definition, and which yet seem to present quite simple problems to
the common sense of men of the world. You have only to imagine the Privy
Council as consisting of men of the world highly endowed with common
sense, to persuade yourself that the supplementing of the law by the
common sense of the Privy Council would settle the whole difficulty. But
no man knows what he means by common sense, though every man can tell
you that it is very uncommon, even in Privy Councils. And since every
ploughman is a man of the world, it is evident that even the phrase
itself does not mean what it says. As a matter of fact, it means in
ordinary use simply a man who will not make himself disagreeable for the
sake of a principle: just the sort of man who should never be allowed to
meddle with political rights. Now to a judge a political right, that
is, a dogma which is above our laws and conditions our laws, instead of
being subject to them, is anarchic and abhorrent. That is why I trust
Lord Gorell when he is defending the integrity of the law against
the proposal to make it in any sense optional, whilst I very strongly
mistrust him, as I mistrust all professional judges, when political
rights are in danger.