The Case Of The Speluncean Explorers: Do Courts Serve Justice?

Do courts serve justice?

When reading a piece of jurisprudence make us harshly question our morals and principles, and dispute what we thought undisputed. This is what I currently feel after reading Lon L. Fuller’s prominent classic The Case of the Speluncean Explorers. Fuller in his writing set up a hypothetical case in no more than thirty pages, up until now after around 70 years since it was published, legal scholars and students are still arguing and discussing the ideas presented in those few pages. In his essay, Fuller sets up a case of five explorers who were exploring one of the caves, when a landslide occurred closed the only entrance of the cave. The trapped explorers found out that they would never survive unless they eat one of them and they agreed to make a lottery to determine whom will sacrifice his life, this was
Firstly, C.J Truepenny after admitting that the applicable law is rigorous at this point, he suggested doing adequate effort to set up communication with the Chief Executive to pardon the defendants. Afterwards, J. Foster seems to reject Truepenny’s opinion stating that it reflects the excessive efforts the court pay to escape embarrassment from denouncing that the law can no longer bring justice to the case in hand. Then, J. Keen made a distinction between how he feels as a private person and what he should do as a judge; he pointed out in his opinion that he would have pardoned the defendants if he was the Chief Executive, however as a judge, he has to convict them according to law. Finally, J. Handy spoke his mind frankly by stating that the defendants are innocent as the public opinion seeks so. He elaborated that his colleagues shall not depend on the executive clemency as he knows for a fact that the Chief Executive will refuse to pardon the