Welcome to BASE21

Writer: Shin Eun-mi
Source: The Chungang Herald

Many people have sort of fear to face the law. If people have to access to the law to solve their problem, most of them experience difficulty. They end up wasting time and expense and suffer emotionally. Why are these problems caused?

People have a negative attitude toward the law, and this results in indifference to the law. The law is still ignorant to people who are in unfair situations and as they try to prove it, suffer the obstacles that have been built by the country's legal system.

This system has put the nation in confusion and in panic when a person is face with a person is faced with a certain law problem. In other words, this country's legal system has problems at its origin.

For example, the government has planned to build a professional law school which will supply more lawyers to help the lower middle class. The law school which would be independent from any one university or general college allows its graduating students to apply for state law examinations and be exempt from the first in the series of examinations. Executing this system might be helpful in reducing the mass number of students clinging to an examination which unrelated to their majors. However insisting on equality, some judicial officers oppose the establishment of a state-run law school because they regard the government's action as unfair to lawyers who have demonstrated their abilities by passing all exams necessary.

In contrast, besides criticizing the present law-related field, there is also a concern that the government had forgot the country's law tradition and is only trying to quickly increase the supply of lawyers. If such a law school is established, there is a strong possibility that the intellectual community will erupt in chaos. This group is also against the government's proposal.

Establishment of the law school is being delayed because right now the country has to consider both quality and quantity.

Separation of the three powers -administration, legislation and judge- has to be kept for the development of the legal system. However, since the law's beginning, judges have been part of the administration. And the administration grew, one tradition was formed that a judge or a lawyer should also belong to a prosecuting or administration organ of the government. In this country, there is another strange legal tradition, When an officer who was a judge or a prosecutor becomes a private lawyer, a judge or prosecutor treats the new colleague as a young sibling.

As a result, absolute lack of judicial officers cause these bad habits. Not only word but also real reform is needed to improve law construction. the law is sacred. But the market economy has to be applied to the operation of the law so it gives room for choice to citizens. An idea of market economy in law field means to buy better judicial officer's knowledge and experience which will provide much better judgement. It is not a request, it is a service as purchase a good by paying the expense.

And such reforms can succeed when conscious citizen's effort follows. It means that people's effort has to be a remedy to the abuse of the legal system. People should have seek to be knowledgable in the law for their rights and the law should be at the same eye level with everybody because they all need access to the law.

There are so many obstacles which general people can not be protected from even with time, expense and effort. Also now, legal ethics are far from a code of the Statue of Liberty. It seems that in this country law is only a tool for the salary of judges or lawyers not for each person's fundamental right.

Reform of the legal system is possible when both judicial officers and citizens are interested in the law, it self, as well as innovation of the system.