Judges have a pretty narrow range of options in resolving cases. What if there were additional options for them such as the following?
* What if, instead of punishing someone criminally for perjury or holding them in contempt, a judge could declare that any statement made by someone in any future court proceeding or legal document was presumptively false? Their testimony alone would never suffice to make out a prima facie case., or to overcome a motion for summary judgment. Their affidavits recorded in real property records after that time would be presumed to be invalid.
* What if there were a registry of every time that a court determined that someone made an untruthful statement under oath that would be publicly available and admissible in court proceedings?
* What if there were a central registry of all occupational license actions taken against someone at any level, so that, for example, someone who had a license suspended by misconduct as a securities broker would automatically be easily accessible if someone sought a license from some other board or sought appointment to some public office?
* What if the results of a background check on every candidate for public office was automatically distributed to every voter as part of a ballot information packet?
* What if, an official who had absolute immunity from civil liability, like a judge or prosecutor, automatically lost that immunity when determined to have committed an ethical violation related to the case where civil liability is sought (or just in general)?
* What if all vehicles owned by, or in the household of, someone whose driver's license was suspended or revoked who had driven anyway at least once, was marked with a sticker that would authorize law enforcement to make random stops to the vehicle to determine that the driver had a license? Or, perhaps, the car would have a device that would only allow it to start if a valid license was inserted and a photo of the person inserting the license was taken simultaneously?
* What is a court, upon learning that a public official (including a judge in a case reviewed by an appellate court) had committed a serious abuse of discretion, or intentionally defied the law, had the authority to sua sponte remove that public official from office or suspend that public official for a length of time?
* What if someone who had filed for bankruptcy or had unsatisfied money judgments outstanding against them was prohibited from establishing a limited liability entity or benefiting from limited liability, without being bonded against losses people might suffer from the entity?
* What if any debt incurred by someone who had a legal obligation to be, or had represented that they were, bonded and/or insured, but was not, was non-dischargeable in bankruptcy?
Well, I think that your suggestions would take all the fun out of being an unethical or shady person.
ReplyDeleteA rather more thoughtful analysis of what these kinds of remedies taken too far could lead to is explored in the YA Novel "Flawed" by Cecelia Ahern
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