Education in Legal Rights and Procedure

As the number of court cases increased in the late 1920’s and thereafter, it became necessary for Jehovah’s Witnesses to be instructed in legal procedures. Since J. F. Rutherford was a lawyer and had himself served on occasion as a judge, he appreciated the need for the Witnesses to have direction in these matters. Particularly since 1926 the Witnesses had been emphasizing house-to-house preaching on Sundays, with the use of books explaining the Bible. Because of opposition to their Sunday distribution of Bible literature, Brother Rutherford prepared the pamphlet Liberty to Preach to help those in the United States to understand their rights under the law. However, he could not personally do all the legal work, so he arranged for other attorneys to serve as part of the Society’s headquarters staff. In addition, others, spread across the country, cooperated closely.

The attorneys could not be present for all the court appearances required in the thousands of cases involving the preaching activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses, but they could provide valuable counsel. To that end, arrangements were made to train all of Jehovah’s Witnesses in basic legal procedures. This was done at special assemblies in the United States in 1932 and, later, on the regular Service Meeting programs in the congregations. A detailed “Order of Trial” was published in the 1933 Year Book of Jehovah’s Witnesses (later as a separate sheet). These instructions were adjusted as circumstances required. In the November 3, 1937, issue of Consolation, further legal counsel was given regarding specific situations that were being encountered.

Using this information, the Witnesses usually handled their own defense in local courts, instead of securing the services of a lawyer. They found that in this way they could often give a witness to the court and present the issues squarely to the judge, instead of having their cases decided merely on legal technicalities. When any case was adversely decided, an appeal was usually filed, though some Witnesses served a jail term instead of hiring an attorney, whose services would be needed in an appellate court.

As new situations arose and precedents were set by decisions in the courts, more information was provided to keep the Witnesses up-to-date. Thus, in 1939 the booklet Advice for Kingdom Publishers was printed to aid the brothers in court battles. Two years later a more extensive discussion was set out in the booklet Jehovah’s Servants Defended. It quoted or discussed 50 different American court decisions involving Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as numerous other cases, and explained how these legal precedents could be beneficially used. Then, in 1943, a copy of Freedom of Worship was made available to each Witness and was diligently studied at Service Meetings in the congregations. In addition to providing a valuable digest of legal cases, this booklet set out in detail the Scriptural reasons for handling matters in particular ways. This was followed, in 1950, by the updated booklet Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News.

All of this was a progressive legal education. The objective, however, was not to make the Witnesses lawyers but to keep the way open to preach the good news of God’s Kingdom publicly and from house to house.

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It became necessary to teach Jehovah’s Witnesses legal procedures so they could deal with opposition to their ministry; these are some of the legal publications they used