Page:Introductory Address on the General Medical Council, its Powers and its Work.djvu/25

 are general maxims of our statecraft in regard to other departments of our corporate life. And the State thought well to apply them to the regulation of our profession also.

By its new Constitution then, in which (1) the State on behalf of the people, (2) the medical profession itself, and (3) the several bodies which educate, test, and maintain the repute of the profession, possess each of them an effective voice, the Council became better adapted than before for its purpose of regulating the training of medical men. It became in fact a better Council of Medical Education. The duty and responsibility of appointing not obedient delegates but good members were imposed on each of its constituent bodies and sections. Their corporate credit rather than their narrower interest was involved in the selection they made. For the influence wielded by any member of the Council within its walls ultimately depends on his character and capacity as a man among his brethren, and not on the dignity or power of the body which sends him. His personal influence is instantly weakened if he comes burdened with a mandate or hampered by a pledge. He must be a voice, and not merely an echo.

I need not labour this point. Its importance must be obvious. But I would add two remarks before I leave it. However important may be the essential independence of the members considered as components of a Council of Education, it becomes more than important, it becomes vital, when we view them in their judicial capacity. In Scotland the Judges of the Supreme Court are finely described as Senators of the College of Justice. In our medical Tribunal the Councillors must also be regarded, and regard themselves, as for this purpose members not of this or that College, University, or Association, but of a "College of Justice" only. "Clothed by the Legislature with the duty of discipline," as Lord Justice Bowen expressed it, anything like fear or favour, partiality or ill-will, mandate or pledge, becomes more than a defect, it amounts to a disqualification for judicial functions.