Book of accusations witchhunt at election

Chris Northover PHOTO/FILE

It's not only witches who are pleased that they don't burn witches any more.

Over the final years of the practice, jurists and anyone keen on justice started to object to the standard of proof that was evident in so many of the burnings.

It was no use screaming your innocence if someone said they had seen you landing a broomstick on your roof late one night. Your pleas that you were up there fixing a leak were weighed against the "sincere testimony" of a neighbour who you may have had an argument with.

If you were lucky they may have throttled or stabbed you to death before they lit the fires. It was mob rule.

The Spanish Inquisition had its own line of proof and punishment - The King of Spain had ordered all the Jews and Muslims in Spain to convert to Roman Catholicism, or leave the country within three months. The Inquisition was the system chosen to ensure that the Jews and Muslims had genuinely converted.

There was a time when to be seen on your knees on the floor in Madrid was tantamount to a death sentence. There is no record of how many cleaners seen scrubbing the floor were sent to the rack but evidence could be taken from anyone about the "non-Catholic" behaviour of a neighbour - or more likely an enemy.

In France, a Jew was reported to have been seen drowning a Christian child in a river. This resulted in a terrible massacre of the Jews in Blois - the Jew had been washing untanned hides in the water.

When I studied criminal law, great importance was placed on evidence and the standard of proof required when an offence was alleged. "Natural justice" required that alleged offenders could face their accusers, be given the time to explain their actions or demand proof that the actions had actually occurred - or, indeed, if the actions had occurred that they were illegal.

So it is with despair that I look at the way our democracy is declining - this whole election has been dominated by a book written by a left-wing activist intent on changing the government. The book contains untested allegations which, due to the limited but precise timing, could not be tested as to their veracity before people voted. Stolen emails which may or may not mean what the author says they do ... drowning a child or only animal skins?

Of greater concern to me is the spirit of those who are propounding these claims - the hatred into which otherwise intelligent people have fallen. This nation was founded on the old Judeo/Christian ethic - the rule of law and "fairness writ large". A system in which the rule of law cannot co-exist with the hatred of mob rule because the rule of law requires that accused persons are allowed to face their accusers and be given the time to deny or explain the accusations.

Are some trying to replace the rule of law with their hatred-based belief system? It certainly looks that way when you consider the "I hate John Key" Facebook page and several in that vein, together with other thuggish behaviour in this campaign. Looks like we can look forward to a spot of witch burning.

Chris Northover is a Wanganui-based former corporate lawyer who has worked in the fields of aviation, tourism, health and the environment.