Oct. 11.
The dismissal of Chief Justice Loo Hsing-yuan of the Provisional Court reopens the entire question of the existence of that! court as an impartial, nonpolitical agency for the enforcement of law in the International Settlement. There have. been. many reasons for objecting to the procedure of some of the jud-ages, and the Consular Deputies /have from time to time protested: gainst decisions of the: court Jand against breaches of the Rendition Agreement. But Judge Loo has been above criticism.
'He was the outstanding example of the judge who knows no! politic who serves no master but his duty, and whose conduct was such as to give rise, latterly, the hope that the Court under him would eventually become an' orderly institution, His dismissal lon the false charge that he was misunderstanding of ithe functions of the Court and a reassertion' of the political] control of the Court, than which! nothing can do more to tam It is difficult to understand the ideas which animate the Nationalist Government, They use the [Communist issue to get rid pf decent men in the Government, overcome political opponents, to frighten reputable citizens, but the-Communists, the genuine Communists, operate with the utmost freedom in Pootung, Nantao, and Chapei. The present Pootung strikes" clearly prove that there is a lack of capacity to suppress Communism, that there is an inherent inability to prevent the Communists often from uniting with' dismissed officials to make trouble for the Nationalist: Government itself. In the face of such a problem, where speedy land forceful action would prove conclusively to the Communists, as well as to the rest of the world, that Nanking is a real Government, a functioning Government, Nanking seems to be junable to do a single thing. But when an excuse is sought to effect the dismissal of an honest and faithful judge—the Communist issue is brought out and used. No one can be taken in by such a pretext. There are judges in the Provisional Court who have been lax in their handling of the Communists; there are judges in the Provisional Court whose conduct should be investigated very closely. But Judge Loo is not one of them, We do not desire to discuss the suitability of his successor, The lady may be an_ excellent judge and she may not be. That is to be seen, But the fact that the Court is back in politics is a horrible thought for the residents of Shanghai who look to the. Court to supplement the work of the police. Miss Tcheng's career has not been in the law but in the Kuomintang: [training hi political it is to be assumed that
than judicial; it is further to'
med that she was appointed not because she is the outstanding juridical personage of the National Government, but beis a revolutionary The Provisional Court Fequires good judges, not -pollticians; it requires trained jurists, not heroines.—Miss "Tcheng's sex need be no bar to high advancement, and we under. stand that a sort of pride is developing in Nationalist circles because of the fact that a woman can rise to such high office amongst them, but all that is propaganda ind not justice. Are the interests of the residents of the International Settlement to be sacrificed to the desire of the Nationalist Government to reward a good party worker or to show to the world that they have A woman judge in what is easily their most important court?
If China's enemies had devised the dismissal of Judge Loo, they could not have done more to discredit China. The rendition of the Mixed Court was more than a mere return to China of a court which rightfully belonged to China: it was the acid test of China's ability to govern. The results of the administration of the Provisional Court are being watched by all Powers because it is upon what happens there that the question of extraterritoriality must finally be settled. If the Provisional Court develops into high institution of justice, it it is shown that the legal minds the country are capable of producing a code and an ad ministration of jurisprudence, the need for extraterritoriality would cease to exist and China's major national aspiration would be achieved. In any other country, every effort would therefore have been made to produce'a court above reproach, 'a court to which China's representatives need but point to Prove any. statements of the ability of foreigners to live
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.