22 June 1807

Scotch Reform

Letter V

II. Litigation

II. Def t

malâ fide

This under Insolvent Def t or [...?] def t?

Superseded?

Subjected in time to examination vivâ voce by and in the presence of the Judge, whatever shapes a defendant's property happened to be in - whatever hands, whatever place it happened to be in, would be brought to light of course, and the property would be forthcoming to be disposed of in execution of the law.

The corner-stone of the technical system - the grand principle, which, by excluding the parties from the presence of their Judge, serves in so many other ways for the exclusion of justice, is not on this occasion more sparing of its service. While the plaintiff, in the character of Sisyphus, is toiling with or without success to force the suit up the hill of litigation, the Defendant with that which ought to be the plaintiff's property in his hands has just so much time given him for stowing it, upon the most commodious terms, out of the reach of justice.