He took a very noble view of the legal profession and of lawyers’ role in society. The growth of his mind as a jurist is a very illuminating chapter of his life. “The labyrinth,” as he advised students, “was to be penetrated by skill and mastered by a frequent survey of landmarks.” We need to remind ourselves of his wise admonition:
“It is the paramount duty of the lawyer to promote reverence for law. Laws may be unjust or unsuited to the times; but so long as they stand unrepealed, it is the high office of the lawyer to see that they are respected and obeyed. Reverence for law makes for social order.”
Ashutosh Mukherjee retired from the Bench in December 1923. Then Advocate General BL Mitter said on Justice Mukherjee’s retirement: “No junior felt embarrassed in your court where good law was well administered. In the maze and labyrinth of adjudged cases, you ever walked with a firm step holding aloft the torch of justice” represents perhaps the best and the most ideal in a judge. Ashutosh Mukherjee was that. It was said that his career as a judge was characterised by profound learning, great ability, marked independence, unerring patience and uniform courtesy. No judge could have aspired for any greater encomium. Sir Ashutosh belongs to that select class and is rightly regarded as one of our most celebrated judges.
Perhaps no other judge in India had such varied interests making such enormous demands on his time. Seldom has so much been packed into one human life and it was so very distinguished, inspiring and ennobling. Simple living and high thinking were his hallmarks. He aimed at excellence in all that he did and exemplified in his life the exhortation in the great Chandogya Upanishadic verse: yadeva vidyaya karoti, shradhaya, upanishada, tadeva viryavattaram bhavati – whatever is done with vidya (knowledge), shradha (faith, conviction, dedication – the totality of positive attitudes) and upanishad (deep thinking- contemplation) becomes supremely efficient.
Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee was indeed a multi-faceted personality and law was one of the great manifestations of that genius. His life and work are as relevant today as ever. They will continue to inspire and ennoble us. We treasure his memory and cherish his ideals and aspirations. To borrow Arthur Mee’s tribute to Socrates: Sir Ashutosh stood tall among his fellowmen, he was like a ‘mountain peak that dazzles in the last rays of the setting sun, a strange figure, almost lost to us in the mists of time, but living in the minds and hearts of men as long as right is might and life is stronger than death’.
Source: Barandbench
