will bring pure benefit; or if not pure benefit, still, an immense surplus of benefit. That which the philanthropist and the political reformer leave almost unthought of as an object to be laboured for, is that which, above all other objects, is worthy of their labour. Attracted as their attention is by special evils to be cured, they think little of the universallydiffused evils which the non-enforcement of equity entails. Nor do they see that many of the beneficial changes which they fail to achieve by direct measures, would be achieved indirectly were easy remedies for all injustices within the reach of every citizen. Let us consider the matter under its several aspects-some familiar, some unfamiliar.

On the individual sufferings entailed by the uncertainty and costliness of law, it is needless to dwell. Every family can furnish one or more histories of lawsuits by which relatives seeking justice have been impoverished. When I have repeated the remark lately made to me by a judge, in agreement with another judge he quoted, that he often wished he could charge the costs of the suits brought before him, on the lawyers who conducted them-when I have conveyed the feeling of a solicitor expressed to me but yesterday, that however strong his case might be, he would rather toss-up with his antagonist which should yield than go into court; I have said enough to remind all how vicious is the judicial system under which we live, and how often ruin rather than restitution comes to those who seek its aid when wronged. Usually, indeed, it is thought that these evils which, extreme as they are, custom reconciles us to, are evils felt only by the classes carrying on business and by those who possess property. Though in rural districts there frequently occur such aggressions on labourers as those which take away rights of common-though by magistrates belonging to the upper ranks, the punishments inflicted for offences committed by those belonging to the lower ranks are often utterly disproportioned— though the assault which, in default of money, brings imprisonment on the poor man, brings on the rich man only a fine easily paid; yet the silence concerning law-reform at working-class meetings, and the coldness with which the topic is received if introduced, imply the current belief that a better administration of justice is a matter which touches the few

rather than the many. But besides the ways in which they individually suffer from time to time from injustices for which no remedy is to be had, the people at large suffer universally in diffused ways.

For maladministration of justice raises, very considerably, the cost of living for all. Payments to lawyers form one of the current expenses of business in general. Manufacturers and merchants and traders have to take account of these items in their outlays, and average extra profits on their transactions have to be made to meet these items. Further, there are bad debts-debts which are crossed off from ledgers because, even if recoverable at all, their amounts would probably be exceeded by the costs of recovering them; and there are also occasional losses by bankruptcies, made needlessly great by the involved legal process of liquidation. These, too, are items of expenditure which have to be met by larger profits on the commodities sold. Moreover, the rise of prices necessitated in these several ways is cumulative. The producer has to charge extra to the wholesale distributor; the wholesale distributor must add to this extra charge a further extra charge to the retail distributor; and the retail distributor must do the like to the consumer. Nor after observing that the effect is thus triplicated shall we fully appreciate the total rise caused. For on recalling the truth that every tax on a commodity increases its price by a greater amount than the amount imposed, because of the extra capital employed and business transacted, we must infer that similarly, the loss which maladministration of justice entails on the producer, the wholesale dealer, and the retailer, raises each of their prices by a greater amount than is directly needed to meet it: all three of these enhancements eventually coming on the

consumer.

Not by the raised prices of commodities only, does the consumer, and especially the poor consumer, suffer from imperfect enforcement of equity. He suffers, too, in the relative badness of the things he buys. It is needless to enlarge on the prevalence of adulteration. All it concerns us here to observe is that the nutritive qualities of food eaten and the wearing qualities of fabrics worn, are diminished, often very greatly, by breaches of contract, which good laws well admin

istered would prevent. Whoso sells as the thing asked for, that which is in part some other thing, breaks the tacit agreement to give so much of the commodity for so much money; and a legal process easily available ought quickly to bring punishment on him for the fraud.

But the immediate evils resulting from a system which affords inadequate protection against aggressors, are not the sole evils-not, indeed, the chief evils. A further evil is the multiplication of aggressions. That impunity generates confidence that the man who has committed a wrong and escaped punishment is thereby encouraged to commit another wrong is a trite remark. As certain as it is that pickpockets would multiply if the police became less efficient in catching them, and that the cooking of joint-stock companies' accounts would be made still more common were there no prospect of possible imprisonment on discovery; so certain is it that in all cases, failure of justice tempts men to injustices. Every unpunished delinquency has a family of delinquencies. Those on whom is urged the need for a judicial system which shall give to the citizen easy remedies for injuries suffered, commonly reply that the amount of litigation would become enormous. But they overlook the fact that with facilities for obtaining remedies the occasions for seeking remedies would decrease. As it is clear that the criminal aggressor would not commit a crime if he were quite certain to be caught and punished; so it is clear that the civil aggressor would not do the inequitable thing he is tempted to do, did he know that the aggrieved person would without difficulty at once obtain justice. So that intelligible laws and a good judicial system, would advantage everyone, not simply by righting him when wronged, but by preventing him from being wronged.

And then there has to be added the remoter but no less certain result—a raised moral tone. If punishments follow transgressions with certainty, and if the temptations to transgress are, by the prospect of certain punishment, more effectually repressed, such temptations must diminish in strength. Energies directed to the illegitimate pursuit of advantages, will be turned to the legitimate pursuit of advantages; and with the decrease of those antagonistic relations among citizens caused

by injustices, by the fears of injustices, and by the precautions against injustices, will go a growth of good feeling and more sympathetic social relations.

Here, then, is an ample field for efforts that must, beyond all question, be beneficent. If, as above shown, more evil than good eventually results from measures which give to individual citizens benefits which their individual efforts have given them no claims to; then, contrariwise, more benefits than evils, if not pure benefits, will eventually result from measures which ensure to them the full advantages due to their efforts. Enforcement of justice is nothing else than maintenance of the conditions to life as carried on in the social state. And the more completely justice is enforced, the higher will the life become.

NOTES.

NOTES TO CHAPTER I.

1 Of various testimonies to this, one of the most striking was that given by Mr. Charles Mayo, M. B., of New College, Oxford, who, having had to examine the drainage of Windsor, found "that in a previous visitation of typhoid fever, the poorest and lowest part of the town had entirely escaped, while the epidemic had been very fatal in good houses. The difference was this, that while the better houses were all connected with the sewers, the poor part of the town had no drains, but made use of cesspools in the gardens. And this is by no means an isolated instance."

2 Debates, Times, February 12, 1852.

3 Letter in Daily News, Nov. 28, 1851.

4 Recommendation of a Coroner's Jury, Times, March 26, 1850. 5 Revue des Deux Mondes, February 15, 1872.

6 Journal of Mental Science, January, 1872.

'Boyle's Borneo, p. 116.

NOTES TO CHAPTER II.

1 Daily paper, January 22, 1849.

2 The Theocratic Philosophy of English History, vol. i. p. 49.

La Main de l'Homme et le Doigt de Dieu dans les malheurs de la France. Par J. C., Ex-aumonier dans l'armée auxiliaire. Paris, Douniol & Cie., 1871.

6 The Roman and the Teuton, pp. 339-40.

Short Studies on Great Subjects, vol. i. p. 11.