[lxxxiv. 52]

1821 Decr 3.

Codification Proposal

penult

?.5. Draughtsman Single

Lawyer's interest begotten prejudices

The evil produced by interest©begotten prejudice would not have place in any quantity but for the interest by which it has been engendered. But having been engendered, the evil produced by it in respect of the number of persons affected /operated [?] upon [...?]/ is still more extensive than the evil produced in an immediate way by its parents

The only persons whose conduct is influenced, by the sinister interest of lawyers is those that belong to the class of lawyers. But to the class of persons on whose minds the sinister interest of the lawyer class operates, there are no such determinate limits: all persons who read in law books written by the lawyers of the class /[...?]/ in question: all persons who read these books, all persons who come within the reach of their conversation: to all these [?] persons whether it be in writing or in conversation every lawyer continues certifying without ceasing, that the system of law which is law is the very acme and qualification of excellence. Not improbably He by whom this is certified is persuaded of its being true, and if he were ever so strongly persuaded of its being false, he would not the less strenuously but the more strenuously, contend that it is /for its being/ true.

Thus it is that by the interest©begotten prejudice of the Lawyer is engendered the /that/ authority©begotten prejudice which in the breast of every man whose /who by/ education and habit and disposition is led to take part in political affairs, can not but operate with a degree of effect more or less considerable.