In The Matter Of Opinion
There is no such thing as a wrong opinion.
One’s thoughts and perceptions as an individual come out through his opinion. This is the embodiment of his views, his beliefs, his perception, his conviction of things that are acquired from experience. This is an expression of an expert or a judge who has had special training on some particular situations. It is less strong than actual knowledge of facts and data, but may formulate the basis of an assumption or a presumption.
An individual’s opinion of things cannot be read or analyzed as a whole or in its entirety. Opinion stems from the mind and since this is so, one cannot deduce exactly what comes from another’s mind.
I had the opportunity to defend somebody in court against the charge of Possession of an Imitation Weapon. It is a crime here to possess an imitation weapon. The man I defended in court was caught with a replica of a pistol that looked genuine and could be mistaken for the real thing. I argued out that the law should come in two parts; firstly the accused must be caught with the imitation weapon; and secondly, the accused must have the intent to disturb the peace. And since the intent of the accused, and any accused for that part, may not be determined because intent comes from the mind, very much the same as opinion comes from the mind, he cannot be charged for this crime. In order to be found guilty of the charge laid against him, there must be the execution of the disturbance of the peace by the accused to prove his intent to do so. And since he did not make any disturbance of the peace, the charges were dropped.
But what then is my point? My point is that nobody can be accused of one’s thoughts. He can be accused only by his actions. Opinion comes from the mind. It is the sum total of an individual’s perception of things. It is not an act. Therefore he cannot be charged for the opinion. And since his opinion comes from his own view of things, his opinion, therefore, cannot be wrong. It may differ from other opinion, but it is never wrong. It is only a different, disagreeing opinion.
In the matter of a judge’s ruling, this is a manifestation of an opinion that comes out as a decision. It is still essentially an opinion, this decision of his. Nobody gets penalized for an opinion especially if the opinion comes from a judge, more so if the opinion comes from a collective body of judges to make the same ruling. Let us then put it this way—–if we believe that a judge made an impartial, biased, prejudiced ruling the judge should not be penalized for this because his ruling comes from his thoughts and his opinion. Besides, if we believe that a judge made a biased, impartial, and prejudiced ruling, don’t you think that we are only exercising our point of view which is what we exactly call our opinion? Our opinion in this matter is not wrong, but it certainly disagrees.
After all, it is only a matter of opinion.
