Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1842-10-21
LAW AND LocoFocolsN.

Start not good reader Al this association Of con.
,r&dieuone. Lee,foeos. like o,hsrs, have some in.
dsstnet notioa that there should be little law.
They only think that each man should mako his
own and administer il. They only objse, to law
ysrs judges and ure'; and hold statutes Of all sor,s
| the bane Of any thing like justice.
II seems that, scn,s where among the hollow trees
| Of Honduras. men, by dnt Of ehoppins Mahogany,
attain to such sublime and perfect notiens Of Equ-
~, tha, they have no need Of tho Long Robe or OF
books. BY the intuition Of tiniber-euttiog, they
arrive at sueh perftc, ideas OF Right and Wrong.
that Coias, or Lord Coke, or Fsrs'erio or Savigny,
or even Jeremy Ben,hsm may "shut Up shor,"
and all other Law, and all other lawyers Z. tie
Seotehman says) "ssl the tools and quat the trade
Our Agrarisn friend OF tho New York Pletisn.
who had lately done his best in v in TO bring about
just such glorious state OF things in Rhode Island
and to set up Log and Club legislation there, has
Just heard With Infinite delight, Of this colony OF
philosophers, and thus joyfully announces the dis
covery TO his Sheriff. psrseeu'ed disciples;
"NoLAwYtas-Ata an Eng sh settlement on the
Bay OF Honduras, there 10 no, sinslc lawyer
" and never has been Even the judges werc never
I" lawyers. The parties in controversy examine The
" witnesses, and argue their own cases, which -
" done 10 a perfectly familiar, Conversational way.
The merits Of the case arc thus clearly brought
out that there Is rarely any question with the J".
" ~ about the verdict There - a right OF appeal
" to the council; but satisfactory are trials IN
/" tho primary court, that only one cause has
" been carried up for % years. What happy
" thing u would DO If We could adopt such sys'
Z" tern I"
We, ourselves have seen, personally, the enlisht-
enins and nsoralizius effects OF bookkeeping,
around Iron works and Salt wells. A man shall
there only put up eord-wood. drink whiskey, and
eat fried bacon for few months, and he becomes a
greater adopt Mt expounding and observing the Law
than all the books and all tie study in the werld
could ever, With any previous advantages Of cult
walton, make him.
Whether it 10 the continual practice Of thumps,
or that of splitting in ono's hand. the contact With
frequent hickory trees, or the incessant habit OF
brawls among themselves, which thus purses their
eyes from the usual errors Of those who know too
much law, We know not. Perhaps the having no
property themselves assists TO render the perspca-
cousin questions about titus, as blind men are
the best judges Of eo!ors, and deaf people ofmusc.
How came the famous legislation Of the Dfuids,
but from the oaks which were their tribunals1-
Here, however, We confess, there 10 difficulty; Tor
they permitted no wood chopping among them aud
saw,ms we're not then invented. And (uu,h TO
say) these very Druids we're the inventors and
builders up Of the English Common Law, now
properly &C great nuisance. in MIR Samm'k eyer.
They we're lawyers and judges. beyond a doubt
Log.law, and club law. then. must 60 back be-
yond our friends the Druids. They las Cesar
aver.) knew how TO write: nay, worse-used Greek
letters; and certain, therefore, to pen statutes
and issue that aborina,ion Of Justice, Wri,s. In
short, they knew too much TO have any sound no.
lions Of what Justice is.
We fear, however. that the admirable Jurispru-
dence Of Honduras is somewhat imprac,ieable in
this country where teIcsp; in Mississippi and some
ott or parts OF the circuit that Judge Lynch r.des
men have too many artificial ideas Of the Law
CertAiny, the light Of Locoiocoism is gradually
getting the better of all that. But il gets along
slowly. We should tske Mr. Slamm at once, as the
universal lesisat0r-clear away all old ideas-lay
the axe to the root-chop down the Law, grub up
the Gospel, and begin again from he stump.