Thai Supreme Court president: Law doesn't matter, ad hoc rulings OK

Doesn't this remind you of Thaksin's famous "Democracy is not the goal" statement that he was universally panned for?

from today's Nation:

Justice more important than letter of law: judges

The presidents of three top courts agreed yesterday that judges and lawyers must ensure that justice is served, rather than the law being strictly followed to the word.

"The law is not justice itself. It's just the means to maintain justice. To ensure justice, it depends on people who use the law. They must be neutral and retain the goal of the law," Supreme Court President Chanchai Likhitjittha said.

"To interpret the law strictly and ignore justice is against common sense. And it's not the right thing to do," he said.

He was speaking at a panel discussion on the "Role of Lawyers under Royal Auspices", which was held at Thammasat University's Faculty of Law in the afternoon.

Such a stance was disputed by former House of Representatives speaker Bhokin Bhalakula, who was a panel speaker at yesterday's event. Bhokin said laws should be strictly followed.

"If you say the law is not good or is not fair and you can't follow the law, there will be a lot of problems. If enforcers of the law are not good, what should we do?" he asked.

Many members of the audience appeared to disagree with Bhokin, a deputy leader of the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party. While those in the room where the panel discussion was held were mostly calm, many people in an adjacent room, to which the event was broadcast on closed-circuit television, jeered and booed from time to time while Bhokin was speaking.

Some people in the smaller room even shouted "Thaksin, get out", the message used by anti-Thaksin protesters.

[...]

I'd have to disagree completely with the judges here. If the law isn't something to be followed, judges are left with nothing but their own prejudice and ignorance to guide them. The judicial system also loses all predictability, an important asset.

An ad hoc judiciary is the last thing Thailand needs at this point in its (so far fruitless) 200 year struggle to evolve into a modern state.