DDH - Judges

Today’s episode looks at the grievance that turned the colonial court system into a warning sign that the imperial relationship was breaking apart. Dave takes listeners back to the moment when King George III decided that judges in Massachusetts would be paid directly from the royal treasury. On paper it looked like an administrative change. In real life it created the perfect storm that swept Chief Justice Peter Oliver out of public trust and into exile. From there the story widens to North Carolina, where the King’s refusal to approve a single provision in a judicial bill left the colony without a functioning court system for more than three years. Justice froze, debts piled up, and colonists learned that the Crown was willing to shut down their legal protections to make a point. Dave uses these two stories to explore a question that never goes away. Do people still believe their judges are truly independent.