It didn’t used to be like this. Remember that English justice freed John Wilkes from a charge of seditious libel pursued by George III himself in 1763. Back then judges were fierce advocates of defending the law and English liberty regardless of what the King or the political establishment wanted. Now our senior judges are bought and paid for by the establishment and the precedent has been set for political prosecutions to be used as a useful tool to deal with inconvenient political dissidents. In England. The shame.
When do you think this changed?
Mixed bag, as always. The outliers make history. Some of the turf battle was between eccesiastical/equity courts and common law. Choice of venue determined the outcome - same is true today, just by different names.
Tough to blame the powerful for fighting to hang on to their power. Human nature dictates they will do so.