Justice and Right

I usually have the television on with the volume down, channel on a news show or one of those Merchant/Ivory productions. Today, I happened to catch the last half of a film called "The Winslow Boy" (1999).

The film was directed by David Mamet and is an adaptation of a British play by Terence Rattigan. It tells the story of a young cadet who is accused of petty theft. Set in 1910, it boasts Nigel Hawthorne as Arthur Winslow, the father of the boy, Ronnie, and Jeremy Northam as high-profile attorney Sir Robert Morton who decides to take on the defense of the Winslow boy.

This is an excellent production with an interesting legal predicament -- that both the Admiralty and the Crown cannot be sued since it is presumed that it can do no wrong.

Near the end, in a conversation between the eldest Winslow daughter, Catherine, who is an outspoken suffragette, and Sir Robert, a Conservative opposed to women's suffrage, one hears this line:

"It is easy to do justice. It is hard to do Right."

The film was released April 30, 1999. If interested, you may visit the film's Web site.