Page:Introductory Address on the General Medical Council, its Powers and its Work.djvu/16

 delivered on these appeals not only denned, but in effect expanded, the jurisdiction of the Council. They laid down its procedure, they interpreted broadly the meagre language of the Statute, and they settled beyond dispute the finality of its decisions on all causes within its competence.

All the Act says is: "If any registered medical practitioner shall be convicted in England or Ireland of any Felony or Misdemeanour, or in Scotland of any Crime or Offence, or shall after due Inquiry be judged by the General Council to have been guilty of Infamous Conduct in any professional respect, the General Council may, if they see fit, direct the Registrar to erase the name of such medical practitioner from the Register." In 1863 the Lord Chief Justice and his colleagues of the Queen's Bench laid it down that this clause "makes the Medical Council sole judges of whether a medical practitioner has been guilty of infamous conduct in a professional respect; and this Court has no more power to review their decision than they would have &hellip; of determining whether the facts had justified a conviction for felony or misdemeanour under the first branch of the section. &hellip; The Council is the tribunal to whom the Legislature has left the decision, as being the best judges in the matter, and this Court cannot interfere."

In another appeal Lord Justice Bowen declared that, provided "due inquiry" had been made by the Council, "the jurisdiction of the domestic tribunal, which has been clothed by the Legislature with the duty of discipline in respect of a great profession, must be left untouched by Courts of Law."

Referring to the language of the Statute, Lord Justice Fry added: "'Inquiry,' and 'judgment,' and 'guilt' are all words which express and which are relevant to a proper form of judicial proceedings, and therefore, although this body proceeds by different rules of evidence from those on which Courts of Law proceed, I cannot for a moment doubt that the Council were proceeding judicially; nor can I help adding that the manner in which the Council has