Judges as Journalists The latest of Lord Hewart's articles in
the Press has provoked a question in Parliament by Sir Arnold Wilson and a reply by the Prime Minister. Mr. Baldwin declined to send a communication to the Lord Chief Justice on the subject, and said that the limit of action must be left " to the good sense of each individual judge." But hi added, that " it is obviously undesirable that His Majesty's judges should write for publication on matters of political controversy or on questions upon which they may have to decide judicially." Lord Hewart is a public man whose high integrity nobody questions. But he happens also to be a very good • writer, and may have been tempted thereby to approach a slippery slope. In- the case of Lord Birkenhead some years ago, Mr. Baldwin, who was then Prime Minister, had after several resorts to gentle warnings and general principles to lay down (in 1927) a definite rule. That rule binds Cabinet Ministers and civil servants; and there is really no ground for excepting the judges from its' application. * * * *
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