add and alter; and to pronounce that which they do not find; and by shew of antiquity to introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. Cursed (saith the law) is he that removeth the landmark.[1] The mislayer of a mere-stone[2] is to blame. But it is the unjust judge that is the capital remover of landmarks, when he defineth amiss of lands and property. One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples. For these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain. So saith Salomon, Fons turbatus, et vena corrupta, est justus cadens in causâ suâ coram adversario.[3] The office of judges may have reference unto the parties that sue, unto the advocates that plead, unto the clerks and ministers of justice underneath them, and to the sovereign or state above them.
First, for the causes or parties that sue. There be (saith the Scripture) that turn judgment into wormwood;[4] and surely there be also that turn it into vinegar; for injustice maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. The principal duty of a judge is to suppress force and fraud; whereof force is the more pernicious when it is open, and fraud when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious suits,
- ↑ "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark." Deuteronomy xxvii. 17.
- ↑ Mere-stone. A stone to mark a boundary.
- ↑ A just man falling in his cause before his adversary is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring. Bacon slightly varies the quotation from the Vulgate, "A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring." Proverbs xxv. 26.
- ↑ "Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth." Amos v. 7.
