20. Neither do we yield to them in _injustice_ any more than _uncleanness_. How frequent are open robberies among us? Is not _the act of violence_ even _in our streets_? And what laws are sufficient to prevent it? Does not _theft_ of various kinds abound in all parts of the land, even tho’ death be the punishment of it? And are there not among us, who _take usury and increase_, who _greedily gain of their neighbour by_ extortion? Yea, whole trades which subsist by such extortion, as was not named either among the _Jews_ or _Heathens? Is there not_ yet _the scant measure, the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitful weights?_ Beside the thousand nameless ways of over-reaching and defrauding, the _craft_ and _mystery_ of every trade and profession. It were an endless task to descend to particulars, to point out in every circumstance, how not only _sharpers_ and _gamesters_, (those public nusances, those scandals to the _English_ nation) but high and low, rich and poor, men of character and men of none, in every station of public or private life, _have corrupted themselves_, and generally applaud themselves and count it _policy_ and wisdom so to do: so that if _gain_ be at hand, they care not, though _justice stand afar off_: so that _he which departeth from evil_, which cometh not into their secret, still _maketh himself a prey_; and _the wicked_ still _devoureth the man that is more righteous than he_.
And what redress? Suppose a great man to oppress the needy? Suppose the rich grinds the face of the poor: what remedy against such _oppression_ can he find in this _Christian_ country? If the one is rich and the other poor, doth not justice stand afar off? And is not the poor under the utmost improbability, (if not impossibility) of obtaining it? Perhaps the hazard is greater among us, than either among _Jews_, _Turks_, or _Heathens_.
For example. Suppose a great man, with or without form of law, does wrong to his poor neighbour. What will he do? Sue his lordship at common law? Have the cause tried at the next sessions or assizes? Alas! Your own neighbours, those who know the whole case, will tell you, “You are out of your senses.” “But twelve good men and true will do me justice.” Very well: but where will you find them: men unbiassed, incapable of corruption, superior both to fear and favour, to every view whether of gain or loss? But this is not all; they must not only be good and true, but wise and understanding men. Else how easy is it for a skilful pleader to throw a mist before their eyes? Even supposing too the judge to be quite impartial, and proof against all corruption. And should all these circumstances concur, (of which I fear there are not many precedents) supposing a verdict is given in your favour, still you have gained nothing. The suit is removed into a higher court, and you have all your work to begin again. Here you have to struggle with all the same difficulties as before, and perhaps, many new ones too. However, if you have money enough, you may succeed: but if that fails, your cause is gone. Without money, you can have no more _law_; _poverty_ alone utterly shuts out _justice_.
But, “cannot an honest _attorney_ procure me justice?” An _honest_ attorney! Where will you find one? Of those who are called _exceeding honest_ attornies, who is there that makes any scruple.
1. To promote and encourage _needless_ suits, if not _unjust_ ones too?
2. To _defend a bad cause_, knowing it so to be:
By making a _demur_, and then withdrawing it:
By pleading some _false plea_, to the plaintiff’s declaration:
By putting in an _evasive answer_ to his bill:
By _protracting_ the suit, if possible, till the plaintiff is ruined:
3. To _carry a cause_ not amounting to ten shillings into _Westminster-hall_, by laying it in his declaration as above forty:
4. To _delay_ his own client’s suit knowingly and wilfully, in order to gain more thereby:
5. To _draw himself_ the pleadings or conveyances of his client, instead of giving them to be drawn by able council:
6. To _charge_ his client with the fees which should have been given to such council, although they were not given:
7. To _charge_ for drawing fair copies, where none were drawn:
8. To charge _fees for expedition_ given to clerks, when not one farthing has been given them;
9. To send his clerk a journey (longer or shorter) to do business with or for different persons; and to charge the horse-hire and expence of that journey to every person severally:
10. To send his clerk to _Westminster_, on the business of ten (it may be) or twenty persons, and to charge each of these twenty for his attendance, as if he had been sent on account of _one_ only:
11. To charge _his own attendance_ in like manner: and
12. To fill up his bill with _attendances_, _fees_, and _term-fees_, though his client is no whit ♦forwarder in his cause.
♦ “forward” replaced with “forwarder” per Errata