14 June 1805

Evidence

Introd

Ch. Procedure Technical

Upon the other plan the wrongdoer does no part of the mischief above or by his own hands, he does the whole of it by the hand of the man of law. The individual /The destined victim/ marked out for ruin is bruised and oppressed /The oppression heaped upon the destined victim is produced/, party by the burthen imposed /thrown/ upon him by the ultimate decision pronounced to his prejudice, in observance of the [...?] observed put /proferred/ in by his oppressor in the character of plaintiff. the decision purchased of the Judge and his associates by the demandants heavier purse - party by the intervening[?] and continually encreasing burthen gradually heaped upon him by the mass of expence, vexation and delay heaped up /that has been accumulating/ during the continuance of the cause.

Of these two distinguishable efficient cause of oppression, the latter is the one that naturally speaking will of the two be the more frequently brought into use. For unless the suit be of the individual class[?], and punishment the mischief aimed /intended/ to be produced by it, it will fall in no other shape than that of pecuniary loss. but in this case, the loss consisting in general in the obligation of giving up something /some article or mass of property/ that a the defendant has already in his possession, the value of it will to the extent of that value supply him with the means and possibility /faculty/ of defending himself: while on the other hand, it may also happen /a case not to be overlooked, is that [...?]/, that before the hour of ultimate decision is arrived /come/, the means of defence, though at the outset not inconsiderable, may have been exhausted.

Upon the whole, there are two distinguishable burthens, which upon them second place, on the oppressor, that is every man who is rich enough may be sure of heaping upon the head of his intended victim by the hands and the means so carefully provided for him by the man of law: + the oppressor, that is every man who has money and wickedness enough to [...?] /pay/ up to the price set /put/ by the man of law /in this[?] aggressive warfare/ upon his assistance: the oppressed /the destined victim/, that is every man who is unable to pay the price put by this same official hand upon the penalty of self-defence.

+ the burthen of expence vexation heaped up during the continuance of the cause, and the burthen produced by the misdecisions pronounced to the prejudice of the defendant's side, at the conclusion of it.