Blue hens chicken & Delaware Democratic Whig. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1845-1848, 1846-01-30

OF single letter ina word, and many such tribes,
were sufficient to defeat Just claim, or free al
notorious felon. Formerly, whom trials by Jury
were conducted withoutlawyers, and facts werel
employed instead Of fictions and scientific false
hoods, justice was moi then, as now, a game of
hazard----a species Of gambling and chance.--
Whence all these devices ofartifce and fraud
by whom were they invented, aud from whence
were they derived Let Blackstone answer
He says; d" The ancient collection Of the u,Horii-
ten MARTINS and customs, which is called the
common ilc, however compounded, OF from
whatever fountains derived, had subsisted I'M
memorially--in Acknowledge of which consis-
ted great part of the learning of the dark ayes:
that the clergy in particular, as they enerossed
almost every, other branch Of learning, so they
were remarkable for their proficiency in the study
of the law; thqi the Judges were usually created
out Of the sacred order; after the Roman laws
became fashionable, the clergy, finding they
could not change the common law into the civil
law, withdrew themselves from the temporal
courts, forbidding ecelesinsiies ffom appearing :.
advocates in the secular courts; after the refer
nation, (Henry VIII. 1927 ineso courts wote
entirely abandoned by thecleigy, and the study
and practice Of the law devolfed upon laymon,
who being in danger Of being overrun by civil
law AMI the priesthood, who had greatly the ai,-
vantage ofthem in learning andinhuence, formed
and established collegiate order, society of
professional men, now called I've inns Of courts
and chancery, thereby to withstand the usurpa-
lions of the clergy"
From these historical facts we gather the fol-
lowing---that during the dark ages when thc
Romish hierarchy was most imperious, ambi-
tious, and intolennt, both judges and lawyer
were generally rfiesis---that they were learned
md the people ignonni--hence he hffihclSs
lrntAr H. ala n
have change SIMPLE, eyeb- hands ~ y; !.
fFf sonal mye-oiy, .fasi, sl.5 ~ ~ . r.
re; gnd plrn4ef i'-eif dlpess rlAe ient>'i
l,js'lcai lawyers, f'ily ma entef ntwsf w n
fr1a OF -rrplaart - Vi,c III "a. IT,
a. S=nonns izyuien lawyers; he Noes. Z "a
priests, gc;.ld Of course decide whut was ~
the law tcadvmce their own interests, and ~
tain the clerical le'der who happened to hSvs
bad cause. The cona?t and unjust decisionss
a degenerate priesthood, afterwards hecamepr
cedents, and are now, by strange perversis,s
of Justice, called common ialc, and are the gov
erning principles Of American courts ~
In the Westminster Review, of July, 1886,
No. XII, we find the following, written eithc.
by Jenny Bentham or Lord Brougham:
"Few abuses are more difficult TO eRfnate
than the abuses of the English law; and Jara.
doxical as il may appear, the very magnipiasl
number, and absurdity of them are amosss n
principle causes of the difficulty.
The modes in which these qualitiesAesf
their protecting influence are not difficult II, r
cover.
Not word, useful, or useless, is cramnst m.
to a legal document, for the insertion Of wh.r4
thelawyers are not liberally paid, and ireqaeEsli
repaid many times over in tho course of a Said.
Not a tTanscriptis made, from which the lawyrfs
do not derive considerable profit. Nota for
mality is there which serves not as pretexi
Tor charges; and scarcely a moment of delay
which is not contrived to minister either tot :
case or profit of lawyers, il not both. Frosn
every one Of the numerous lies told in the course
Of suit, some lawyer OF other extracts fees as
reward for devising, telling, or advising it. ~.
cry inconsistency, and every groundless distinc-
ton, leads to uncertainty, and every uncertainty
TO law suits, accompanied with harvests of fees
for lawyers; in short there is, perhaps, not sin
gle imperfection in the law by the existence OF
which lawyers are net in some way or Other
benefited.
From lawyers, therefore, OF from those who
are closely connected with the present or iutcnd.
ed lawyers, IA very large and very powerfil
body it would be unreasonable 10 expect thai
any projects for reforming the law should ems-
nate. On tbs contrary, we must expect thai
they should meet every projected legal reform
with an opposition strenuous in proportion TO n,
magnitude ofthe abuse aitaoksd. and the caira-,
--af The proposed tctns5r.
( The magnitude and aLslisditV 81 a,s 'o,a-s
net almost as strongly IN protecting them frcs-
shDse WHO are not lawyers, as in recommending
them to the protection of those who are. Thu
public are conscious that they do not know thu
bearings Of the different parts of the complicated
system on each other. They perceive certain
things which appear on the face of them very
likeabsurdities, and others which can scarcely b.
distinguished from lies, though called by anoihe
name. They also find it impossible to doub
that there is very intimate connexion between
lawsuits, and ruinous expense and vexat on---
but they feel that, knowing nothing of the exist
ing law, and almost as little of what the Law
ought to be, they are not to Judge what arrange
ments, if any, would be adopted, by which tn
advantages of law might be obtained with
smaller amount of accompanying evils. lncapa
BILE offorming their opinion on the merits of an,
legal arrangement, they necessarily ground it o.
the dicta Of others. And on the subject oilaw
the lawyers quite Guido their adversares in III
number, loudness, and boldness of their asset
lions, and also in supposed capability to Judge
the comparative merits Of the different legal al
rangements.
According to lawyers, of course, the law a
it is, is excellent-it is the perfection of reaso
its fctions are invariabe devised for the PIT
htot VI PuipoooS---hio aPpoicht ahSuoitioS oti
appears so because they are partially understood
if rightly unders ood, they would be found tot
exquisitely reasonable"
However extraordinary ii may seem-hov
ever incredibleit may appear, the whole
what is called the common laio, the whole bod
ofpleadings, rules of evidence, &C., &c, hay
no Legislative acts either for their establishmel
or definition. Strange as it may appear, % the
depend wholly and entirely for their authorit
on notes taken by lawyers and clerks, durin
the " dark ages" before mentioned, and henc
the Judges became the Legislators. 1t is fxt
rule, maintained by every Judge and lawyer
spllow the footsteps Of those who have gone b
fore them; so that whenever lawyer can di
cover a case, bearing resemblance to one no
tabe tried, that has been reported at Some sneie
time, by these very priesfiy iapyers, and adius
ID by thsse sacred clerical judges. unless sin,
aliersa by statute, he is sure Of judgment in h
favor, without paying any regard to the reaso
Of the decision.p Shall our judiciary svste
ever undergo a salutary reform, Will poop
calling themselves FREE continue to submit
these iniquitous impositions because they a