登陆注册
5382300000256

第256章 CHAPTER XXXIII(11)

This may, perhaps, seem strange, for fraudulent practices are sure in the long run to undermine trade. The Russian merchants, however, have not yet arrived at this conception, and can point to many of the richest members of their class as a proof that fraudulent practices often create enormous fortunes. Long ago Samuel Butler justly remarked that we damn the sins we have no mind to.

As the external conditions have little or no influence on the religious conceptions of the merchants and the peasantry, the two classes are equally severe with regard to those acts which are regarded as crimes against the Deity. Hence acquittals in cases of sacrilege, blasphemy, and the like never occur unless the jury is in part composed of educated men.

In their decisions, as in their ordinary modes of thought, the jurors drawn from the educated classes are little, if at all, affected by theological conceptions, but they are sometimes influenced in a not less unfortunate way by conceptions of a different order. It may happen, for instance, that a juror who had passed through one of the higher educational establishments has his own peculiar theory about the value of evidence, or he is profoundly impressed with the idea that it is better that a thousand guilty men should escape than that one innocent man should be punished, or he is imbued with sentimental pseudo-philanthropy, or he is convinced that punishments are useless because they neither cure the delinquent nor deter others from crime; in a word, he may have in some way or other lost his mental balance in that moral chaos through which Russia is at present passing. In England, France, or Germany such an individual would have little influence on his fellow-jurymen, for in these countries there are very few people who allow new paradoxical ideas to overturn their traditional notions and obscure their common-sense; but in Russia, where even the elementary moral conceptions are singularly unstable and pliable, a man of this type may succeed in leading a jury.

More than once I have heard men boast of having induced their fellow-jurymen to acquit every prisoner brought before them, not because they believed the prisoners to be innocent or the evidence to be insufficient, but because all punishments are useless and barbarous.

One word in conclusion regarding the independence and political significance of the new courts. When the question of judicial reform was first publicly raised many people hoped that the new courts would receive complete autonomy and real independence, and would thus form a foundation for political liberty. These hopes, like so many illusions of that strange time, have not been realised. A large measure of autonomy and independence was indeed granted in theory. The law laid down the principle that no judge could be removed unless convicted of a definite crime, and that the courts should present candidates for all the vacant places on the Bench; but these and similar rights have little practical significance. If the Minister cannot depose a judge, he can deprive him of all possibility of receiving promotion, and he can easily force him in an indirect way to send in his resignation; and if the courts have still the right to present candidates for vacant places, the Minister has also this right, and can, of course, always secure the nomination of his own candidate. By the influence of that centripetal force which exists in all centralised bureaucracies, the Procureurs have become more important personages than the Presidents of the courts.

From the political point of view the question of the independence of the Courts has not yet acquired much practical importance, because the Government can always have political offenders tried by a special tribunal or can send them to Siberia for an indefinite term of years without regular trial by the "administrative procedure" to which I have above referred.

同类推荐
  • 奉和圣制送张说上集

    奉和圣制送张说上集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 道德真经集义

    道德真经集义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说庄严菩提心经

    佛说庄严菩提心经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 病榻遗言

    病榻遗言

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 却扫编

    却扫编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 牧鉴

    牧鉴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 穿越之回到书中当巫女

    穿越之回到书中当巫女

    叶海棠是误入时空的一缕魂魄,成了四神天地书中最不受作者亲妈待见的青龙巫女,说好的女主光环拯救绝美邪气大将军,嗜血凶残的狼人,性感杀戮并存的美女,心理扭曲的面具男,不死不老的神秘男,性格迥异的双生子。怎么遇上的都是软糯可爱的小正太和天真无邪的小萝莉,是她进入书中的时间以及打开的方式不对吗?为了不让原本虚弱的自己消散在异界的时空里,叶海棠不得不穿越不同的七个平行时空去完成自己所谓的巫女使命。
  • 魔方世界

    魔方世界

    当有一天穿越到游戏里做了主角,你又将如何主宰这个美丽新世界?
  • 异域三国恋:麻雀戏诸候

    异域三国恋:麻雀戏诸候

    一次意外的丛林探险,让我落入了一个不知名的世界。这里如同古代的三国,而我成了人们口中能改变乱世的异人。我是项宝儿,除了吃喝玩乐什么能力都没有,怎么可能是他们口中的神呢?离国的强势太子,雁国的温和少君,还有商国富豪之后都向我伸出友谊之手,而我知道:无论倾向哪一边,三国之战已不可避免的爆发了……
  • 叶哥的传奇人生

    叶哥的传奇人生

    十七年后,他拖着残垣断壁般的身躯低调地回归华夏,就如同一个漂泊浪子一头扎进了母亲的怀抱,一段让苍天敬畏,让大地颤抖,让世界疯狂的传奇人生从这里开启...完本作品《重生最强特种兵》250万字,人品保证,请读者朋友们放心收藏,阅读。
  • 灰熊王

    灰熊王

    一部描写北美荒原动物的小说。小说根据作者真实经历创作。故事中,灰熊托尔是加拿大北部山谷中的王者,后来它遇到并接纳了一只失去母亲的小熊,一大一小两只熊相依为命。猎人兰登和布鲁斯来到山谷,小熊被猎人活捉。在追杀与逃避中,托尔与猎人兰登相遇了,咆哮着恐吓兰登,但最终却饶恕了这个看起来苍白弱小的人类。兰登幸存下来后顿悟生命,放弃了猎杀,将小熊放生。这种态度转变在《灰熊王》的前言中得到了最好的表达:“最激动人心的,不是猎杀,而是放生。”“自然是我的信仰,我的愿望,我的志向;我想达到的最大目的,是让读者随我一起走进大自然的腹地。”
  • 我的绝美女神老婆

    我的绝美女神老婆

    身怀绝技的乡村少年方少阳,从此走向人生巅峰~
  • 每天读点《孙子兵法》

    每天读点《孙子兵法》

    《孙子兵法》言简意赅,具有高度的哲理性,除了少数篇章谈及具体战争问题外,其余均可以“原则”视之。今天,人们不仅在战争行动时依赖它的指导,而且在进行政治、经济乃至体育竞赛等种种活动时也可从中得到启迪。本书从《孙子兵法》中挑选出近百个影响深远、含义丰富的句子,分为战争、将才、治兵、谋略、攻防、制胜、机变、虚实等章节,对孙子智慧进行解析,其中既有原文、译文,还有历代论引、兵法札记、人生感悟,能让大家更清楚地了解孙子的思想。
  • 那杯蓝莓咖啡

    那杯蓝莓咖啡

    云杉回到红房子里,很快又出来。她走向停车位,和导游说着什么。车开动了,导游透过车窗向我说,明早见。明早我们要乘TCV高速列车返回巴黎。云杉和我说,哥,我开车送你回宾馆。她仍然叫我哥。她进到屋里,过了一会儿,端着一杯咖啡出来。她把咖啡放在我面前的木桌上,说,蓝莓的。我慢慢品着那杯蓝莓咖啡。味道有点怪。我和她偶尔相互对视一眼,大多时间只是看着山崖下的海和远处的海。
  • 我的23岁美女邻居

    我的23岁美女邻居

    我有个绝色美女邻居,总是深更半夜来敲我的门……唉,真的心累!