date

August 1805 Evidence Introd
August 1805

Evidence

Introd. Jurisprudence

Ch. III Lawyer's Art

''. 9. Forged Population[?]

Whence (it may be asked) all this effrontery? This perseverence not only in the lavishing upon so unworthy a subject effusion of panegyric that on the most deserving subject imaginable would be excessive to a degree of absurdity, but in the assention /advancement/ of matters of fact, the falsity of which is palpable to every eye that reads? I answer 1. From the professional habit of uttering truth and false hood with equal confidence.

2. From confidence in the ignorance and prejudice of the people: even of that select and superior part /class/ of the people, to whence /which/ all those who concern themselves in any way about /take cognizance in any way of/ the state and character of the law can not be referred.

In no other time /strain/ do they know /see/ the law, ever spoken of/but more particularly the Common Law/ than in the strain of panegyric. If here and there any thing is suspected to be amiss, it is ascribed by every body to any thing rather than to an imperfection in the constitution of what is called common law: to the perversity of human nature, to the natural difficulty and intricacy of the subject, or if to any more particular cause, to the imperfection not of the system itself, but of the individuals, meaning /understood/ of the inferior and non-governing classes?, that not under it.

No man who is not engaged by interest as well as prejudice in keeping the secret of its infirmities /depravity/ /imperfection/, ever sees any thing more of it than the phantasmagoric view given of it by Blackstone. Of those who are not engaged by professional interest and prejudice to give /take a part/ in the imposture, there is no one that does not find it less troublesome and more pleasant to take Blackstone's word for the excellence of the system than to plunge to the bottom of it for the purpose of bringing to view its defects? What labour would it not require to get to the bottom, and how little profit in any shape would be the reward of it.
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    suppose 16 years, an attempt made to [...?] the bond to be pronounced antiquated /a plea of antiquation exhibited/ on the ground of that length of time, and the attempt reacted /plea repelled/, would not this /a decision to this effect/ it may be asked serve to fix the rule at both ends? No, that it would not: for between the sufficient length of 18 years and the insufficient length of 16 years there remain a length of 2 years wrapped in impenetrable darkness. Two years contain 730 days, each capable of furnishing its separate decision: but in the number of 730 /decisions/ we have happily a maximum by /at the end of/ which happen the worst / at the worst/ the main of uncertainty will be exhausted, opposing fractions of days to be thrown out of the account.

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