 For the Distinctions in Law are, like the Newtonian Particles of Matter,
divisible ad infinitum.
They have been dividing and subdividing for some Centuries past, and the Subdivisions are as likely to be subdividing for ever; insomuch that Law, thus divisible, debateable, and delayable, is become a greater Grievance than all that it was intended to redress.
I lately asked a pleasant Gentleman of the Coif, if he thought it possible for a poor Man to obtain a Decree, in Matter of Property, against a rich Man? he smiled and answered, according to Scripture, that
with Man it was impossible, but that all Things were possible to God.
I suppose he meant, that the Decrees of the Courts of
Westminster
were hereafter to be reversed.
Perhaps Sir, said Mr.
Fielding,
neither our Laws nor our Lawyers are so much to blame as the People who apply to them for Protection, for Justice, Satisfaction, or Revenge. Might not the Parties, who adventure on the Course of Litigation, begin where they are most likely to end their Career, in the Award of a few Persons, or a Verdict of twelve Neighbours?
But the Nature of Man is prone to Contention and Quarrel. There is a certain Portion of yeast or Fermentation in his Mass that will have Vent in some Way, and our Courts of Law are the most obvious Receptacles for the Ebullitions of Pride, Avarice, Envy, Resentment, and Wrathfulness, the Insolences of Temper, and Overflowings of Fortune.
Mr.
Scruple,
an Attorney, a very singular Man in his Way, was lately recommended to me, as a Person equally qualified for alluring or compelling my litigating Opponents to an Accommodation. And he told me an exceeding pleasant Story, as well respecting the Process and Forms of our Courts of Law, as respecting the contentious Disposition of our Neighbours.
Some Time since,
Walter Warmhouse,
a substantial Farmer in
Essex,
was advised, by Sergeant
Craw,
that he had an unquestionable right to a certain Tenement in the Possession of
Barnaby Boniface,
his next Neighbour and Gossip, who fattened by the dint of good Ale and good Humour.
Barnaby,
who equally hated Debate and dry Bowels, offered to leave the Matter, in question, to any honest Neighbours of
Walter
's own choosing; but
Walter,
proud of a weighty Opinion and as weighty a Purse, rejected the proffered Compromise with Scorn, and took a mortal Aversion to honest
Barnaby
because he refused to surrender his Possessions on demand.
Walter Warmhouse
accordingly began the Attack, in Form. But Mr.
Scruple,
who had the uncommon Conscience
