A Stuff obituary following the death of 94 year old Dunedin barrister Neville Marquet explained why he confined his career to civil work.
It transpired that his first two cases back in 1954 were criminal actions in which, to quote him as the first a witness perjured himself and in the second the defendant did, so he decided to thereafter confine himself to civil work.
That was a wise decision to maintain his sanity but any Lower Court judge reading this would probably assert that truth-telling in criminal cases is so rare as likely to cause them a heart attack. God knows how they put up with this punishment each day.
2 Comments
I once had occasion, back in 2000, to attend a meeting at his law firm in Dunedin. Coming from Auckland, and experience of Auckland law firm offices, I was stunned when I entered the Ross Dowling Marquet Griffin office – the 1960s decor, 1950s office equipment, and antiquated way of doing things was certainly a novelty. I wondered who on earth these people were! haha!
And parties to civil cases never perjure themselves? Interesting….