{"id":54891,"date":"2012-09-23T10:45:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-23T10:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=54891"},"modified":"2012-09-26T06:56:01","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T06:56:01","slug":"the-gravity-of-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-gravity-of-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gravity Of The Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

We have moved a fair distance from Newtonian Physics, but in the necessarily context-bound universes that we inhabit, what goes up still comes down.<\/p>\n

Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that every point pass in the universe attracts every other point mass with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Gravitation is responsible for keeping the Earth and the other planets in their orbits around the Sun; for keeping the moon in its orbit around the Earth, and other phenomenon in the natural world.<\/p>\n

Key to the matter of force is mass. Distance between particular masses are also determining factors when it comes to the nature of their inter-relationships.\u00a0 Orbits, tides, pull and push, the coalescing of dispersed matter, the integrity of coalesced matter, strong and weak character of relevant forces and such can be alluded to using Newton\u2019s theoretical construct.<\/p>\n

For our purposes the Law of Gravity, as it is referred to colloquially, is a veritable treasure trove of metaphors waiting to be employed in the dissection of things political and social, including law and justice.<\/p>\n

There are different masses in society.\u00a0 There is the mass called \u2018The Governed\u2019 and the mass that governs.\u00a0 There are the judges and the judged.\u00a0 Lawmakers, law-enforcers, law-abiders and law-breakers.\u00a0 The distances are relative but at the same time these are not mutually exclusive categories.\u00a0 The judged also judge, the law-enforcers sometimes break the law as do the lawmakers.\u00a0 There is a think called \u2018separation of powers\u2019, but those in the executive, legislative and judicial spheres at times indulge in cross-border skirmishes.<\/p>\n

But right now we are talking about the gravity of the law.\u00a0 \u2018Gravity\u2019 is not about long faces and furrowed brows.\u00a0 It is about deference to reason and justice.\u00a0 Inconsistency, trivializing and mockery should have no place in a court of law.\u00a0 Can we say that this country is happily insulated by such things?<\/p>\n

One man assaults another.\u00a0 The victim complains.\u00a0 The assailant is taken into custody.\u00a0 The victim recants and the accused is enlarged on bail.\u00a0 It is not the end of story, though.\u00a0 In a world where insecurity rules, surveillance has become standard part of security and protection regimes. Human beings are frail.\u00a0 They can forget.\u00a0 Memory can trick them. A humanly pernicious strain can make them remember selectively.\u00a0 They can feign \u2018shock\u2019 and offer shock-induced error by way of explanation for change of story.\u00a0 The camera is a more reliable instrument of recollection, though.\u00a0 When people lie on considerations of personal security, gift for silence, etc., and make relevant pronouncements in sworn affidavits, it is harder for the courts to elicit the truth.<\/p>\n

Cameras, though, are not there to archive wrongdoing for purely academic reasons.\u00a0 They are the law-enforcer\u2019s adjuncts.\u00a0 The story or stories they capture cannot be dismissed on account of punch-induced shock.\u00a0 They can be erased, of course.\u00a0 They can be trumped by technical breakdowns.\u00a0 Not always.<\/p>\n

Gamini Gunawardane<\/a><\/span>, Senior DIG (Rtd) has proposed that the stories of King Kekille and those of Mahadenamutta should be taught in all educational institutions related to public administration, policing and the law.\u00a0 He has referred to an occasion when the late G.G. Ponnambalam, QC, after demolishing a Justice of the Peace of dubious background in the witness box concluded cross-examination with the wry remark, \u2018Neither justice nor peace!<\/a><\/span>\u2019<\/p>\n

The nation is aware that such acerbic but telling remarks are made in reference to many institutions and people holding high posts therein.\u00a0 It should not be the norm.\u00a0 Someone has got to stop the rot. If not the orbits of certain masses (like the governed and governing) will alter course on account of volume change in the particular bodies, distances will collapse, one will not be recognizable from the other, anarchy will break loose and the order of the universe will be wrecked.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, the law-abiding would suffer most.\u00a0 Blood will flow, but not all of the blood will belong to the innocent.<\/p>\n

Let it not come to that!<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation<\/a>\u2018 and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[5007,5005,2999,5011,5010,5009,5004,5008,5006],"class_list":["post-54891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","tag-g-g-ponnambalam","tag-gamini-gunawardena","tag-law-and-order-in-sri-lanka-under-rajapaksas","tag-law-abiders-and-law-breakers","tag-law-enforcers","tag-lawmakers","tag-newtons-law-of-universal-gravitation","tag-qc","tag-senior-dig-rtd"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Gravity Of The Law - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-gravity-of-the-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Gravity Of The Law - 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