The Benchers of Gray's Inn have disbarred Dr. Kenealy for
publishing in a journal, which he is advertised on the face of the journal to edit, libellous statements about the Queen's Judges. There can be no doubt that the insults poured upon some of the Judges in the Englishman have been outrageous, or that the Benchers have acted according to their rules in disbarring Dr. Kenealy, who has, as it were, tempted his fate, but we cannot help wishing that each Inn would transfer this power to a sworn sub- Committee possessing more of a judicial and less of an accidental character. We can imagine cases in which a barrister might be de- prived of his living, because his enemies outnumbered his friends, and the right of petitioning the Judges is in this case,—a very unusual one, no doubt—the right of petitioning the colleagues of the men alleged, and truly alleged, to have been insulted. Suppose anybody else had published the same insults, he could only have been tried. It is said the Benchers act like officers on a court- martial, but a court-martial is a sworn court, governed by most binding traditions, bound to act on evidence, and in most instances hearing that evidence in public.
Previous page
