Three possible reasons why, when a lawyer lies in court, the court often ignores the lie knowingly:
- The judge knows the lawyer is lying, but knows that the lie won’t make any difference in the outcome of the case.
- The judge knows the lawyer is lying, but just doesn’t care one way or the other.
- Because you can be virtuous or you can be popular, but you can rarely be both. Consequently, the legal system is slowly but steadily abandoning integrity and good character as a fundamental element of justice and equity. We see it at all levels and in a vicious circle: dishonest people vote for dishonest politicians who either appoint dishonest judges or become dishonest judges themselves, and then dishonest clients hire dishonest lawyers in an effort to game the system and obtain an unfair advantage in one’s efforts to persuade/blackmail/bribe the dishonest judge to rule in the dishonest party’s or parties’ favor. Whether it’s honor among thieves, the blind leading the blind, or the inmates taking over the asylum, the adverse effects are still the same. This is one reason why a judge can often know lawyer is lying in court, and yet the lawyer gets away with it.