, so despised among us that
few offenders would lie to save themselves.«
    »That is the most astounding thing you have yet told me,« I exclaimed. »If
lying has gone out of fashion, this is indeed the new heavens and the new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness, which the prophet foretold.«
    »Such is, in fact, the belief of some persons nowadays,« was the doctor's
answer. »They hold that we have entered upon the millennium, and the theory from
their point of view does not lack plausibility. But as to your astonishment at
finding that the world has outgrown lying, there is really no ground for it
Falsehood, even in your day, was not common between gentlemen and ladies, social
equals. The lie of fear was the refuge of cowardice, and the lie of fraud the
device of the cheat. The inequalities of men and the lust of acquisition offered
a constant premium on lying at that time. Yet even then, the man who neither
feared another nor desired to defraud him scorned falsehood. Because we are now
all social equals, and no man either has anything to fear from another or can
gain anything by deceiving him, the contempt of falsehood is so universal that
it is rarely, as I told you, that even a criminal in other respects will be
found willing to lie. When, however, a plea of not guilty is returned, the judge
appoints two colleagues to state the opposite sides of the case. How far these
men are from being like your hired advocates and prosecutors, determined to
acquit or convict, may appear from the fact that unless both agree that the
verdict found is just, the case is tried over, while anything like bias in the
tone of either of the judges stating the case would be a shocking scandal.«
    »Do I understand,« I said, »that it is a judge who states each side of the
case as well as a judge who hears it?«
    »Certainly. The judges take turns in serving on the bench and at the bar,
and are expected to maintain the judicial temper equally whether in stating or
deciding a case. The system is indeed in effect that of trial by three judges
occupying different points of view as to the case. When they agree upon a
verdict, we believe it to be as near to absolute truth as men well can come.«
    »You have given up the jury system, then?«
    »It was well enough as a corrective in the days of hired advocates, and a
bench sometimes venal, and often with a