The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Errata—vol. III.
• Defence of Usury; Showing the Impolicy of the Present Legal Restraints On the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains; In Letters to a Friend.
• Letter I.: Introduction.
• Letter II.: Reasons For Restraint—prevention of Usury.
• Letter III.: Reasons For Restraint—prevention of Prodigality.
• Letter IV.: Reasons For Restraint—protection of Indigence.
• Letter V.: Reasons For Restraint—protection of Simplicity.
• Letter VI.: Mischiefs of the Anti-usurious Laws.
• Letter VII.: Efficacy of Anti-usurious Laws.
• Letter VIII.: Virtual Usury Allowed.
• Letter IX.: Blackstone Considered.
• Letter X.: Grounds of the Prejudices Against Usury.
• Letter XI.: Compound Interest.
• Letter XII.: Maintenance and Champerty.
• Letter XIII.: To Dr. Smith, On Projects In Arts, &c.
• A Manual of Political Economy: Now First Edited From the Mss. of Jeremy Bentham.
• Chapter I.: Introduction. *
• Chapter II.: Analytical Survey of the Field of Political Economy.
• Chapter III.: Of Wealth.
• Chapter IV.: Of Population.
• Chapter V.: Of Finance.
• Chapter VI.: Operation of a Sinking Fund On the Production of Wealth.
• Chapter VII.: Noscenda.
• Observations On the Restrictive and Prohibitory Commercial System; Especially With a Reference to the Decree of the Spanish Cortes of July 1820.
• Preface.: Observations, &c.
• Section I.: Nature of the Prohibitory System.
• Section II.: Mischiefs of the Prohibitory System.
• Section III.: Causes of the Prohibitory System.
• A Plan For Saving All Trouble and Expense In the Transfer of Stock, and For Enabling the Proprietors to Receive Their Dividends Without Powers of Attorney, Or Attendance At the Bank of England, By the Conversion of Stock Into Note Annuities.
• Introduction.
• Chapter I.: Plan For the Creation, Emission, Payment, and Eventual Extension, of a Proposed New Species of Government Paper, Under the Name of Annuity Notes.
• Chapter II.: Form of an Annuity Note. (see Table II.)
• Chapter III.: Comparison of the Proposed, With the Existing Government Securities, &c.
• Chapter IV.: Grounds of Expectation, In Regard to the Proposed Measure.
• Chapter V.: Financial Advantages.
• Chapter VI.: Advantage By Addition to National Capital.
• Chapter VII.: Advantage By Addition to Commercial Security.
• Chapter VIII.: Particular Interests Concerned.
• Chapter IX.: Rise of Prices—how to Obviate.
• Chapter X.: Reduction of Interest—proposed Mode Compared With Mr. Pelham’s.
• Chapter XI.: Moral Advantages.
• Chapter XII.: Constitutional Advantages.
• Chapter XIII.: Recapitulation and Conclusion.
• Appendix A.: Government Ought to Have the Monopoly of Paper Money, As Well As of Metallic Money.
• Appendix B.: Paper Money—causes Why Not Circulated By Government Without Interest, As Well As By Individuals.
• General View of a Complete Code of Laws.
• Chapter I.: General Division.
• Chapter II.: Relations Between the Laws Concerning Offences, Rights, Obligations, and Services.
• Chapter III.: Relation Between the Penal and Civil Code.
• Chapter IV.: Of Method.
• Chapter V.: Plan of the Penal Code.
• Chapter VI.: Of the Division of Offences.
• Chapter VIII. Titles of the Penal Code.
• Chapter IX.: First General Title of the Civil Code, * of Things.
• Chapter X.: Second General Title of the Civil Code. of Places.
• Chapter XI.: Third General Title of the Civil Code. of Times.
• Chapter XII.: Fourth General Title of the Civil Code. of Services.
• Chapter XIII.: Fifth General Title of the Civil Code. of Obligations.
• Chapter XIV.: Sixth General Title of the Civil Code. of Rights.
• Chapter XV.: Seventh General Title of the Civil Code. of Collative and Ablative Events.
• Chapter XVI.: Eighth General Title of the Civil Code. of Contracts.
• Chapter XVII.: Ninth General Title of the Civil Code. of the Domestic and Civil States.
• Chapter XVIII.: Tenth General Title of the Civil Code. of Persons Capable of Acquiring and of Contracting.
• Chapter XIX.: Of the Particular Titles of the Civil Code.
• Chapter XX.: Of Elementary Political Powers.
• Chapter XXI.: Of Elementary Political Powers— Subject Continued.
• Chapter XXII.: Plan of the Political Code.
• Chapter XXIII.: Plan of the International Code.
• Chapter XXIV.: Plan of the Maritime Code.
• Chapter XXV.: Plan of the Military Code.
• Chapter XXVI.: Plan of the Ecclesiastical Code.
• Chapter XXVII.: Plan of Remuneratory Laws.
• Chapter XXVIII.: Of Political Economy.
• Chapter XXIX.: Plan of the Financial Code.
• Chapter XXX.: Plan of Procedure Code.
• Chapter XXXI.: Of the Integrality of the Code of Laws.
• Chapter XXXII.: Of Purity In the Composition of a Code of Laws.
• Chapter XXXIII.: Of the Style of the Laws.
• Chapter XXXIV.: Of the Interpretation, Conservation, and Improvement of a Code.
• Pannomial Fragments.
• Chapter I.: General Observations.
• Chapter II.: Consideranda.
• Chapter III.: Expositions.
• Chapter IV.: Axioms.
• Nomography; Or the Art of Inditing Laws: Now First Published From the Mss. of Jeremy Bentham.
• Chapter I.: The Subject Stated.
• Chapter II.: Relations.
• Chapter III.: Proper End In View.
• Chapter IV.: Imperfections Primary.
• Chapter V.: Explanations Relative to the Imperfections of the Second Order.
• Chapter VI.: Of Remedies. *
• Chapter VII.: Of Language.
• Chapter VIII.: Of the Perfections of Which the Legislative Style Is Susceptible.
• Chapter IX.: Of Forms of Enactment.
• Appendix. Logical Arrangements, Or Instruments of Invention and Discovery
• Equity Dispatch Court Proposal; Containing a Plan For the Speedy and Unexpensive Termination of the Suits Now Depending In Equity Courts. With the Form of a Petition, and Some Account of a Proposed Bill For That Purpose
• Section I.: Purpose Explained. Jeremy Bentham to the Honest and Afflicted Among Equity Suitors.
• Section II.: Equity Suitors’ Petition For Dispatch Court. to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, —
• Section III.: Dispatch Court Bill—some Account of It.
• Section IV.: Information Requisite From Petitioning Suitors.
• Equity Dispatch Court Bill: Being a Bill For the Institution of an Experimental Judicatory Under the Name of the Court of Dispatch, For Exemplifying In Practice the Manner In Which the Proposed Summary May Be Substituted to the So Called Regular Sy
• Editor’s Note.
• Preface.
• Preamble.
• Part I.—: Judiciary.
• Section I.: Judge Located, How.
• Section II.: Remuneration.
• Section III.: Registrar, &c.
• Section IV.: Eleemosynary Advocate.
• Section V.: Judges’, &c. Deputes.
• Section VI.: Judge’s Powers—exemptions—checks.
• Section VII.: Prehensors and Messengers.
• Section VIII.: Consignees; * Or Say, In-trust-holders.
• Section IX.: Grounds of Decision For the Dispatch Court Judge.
• Section X. ‡: Suits’ Comparative Suitableness; and Order of Cognizance.
• Section XI.: Auxiliary Judges and Accountants.
• Section XII.: Sittings, Times Of.
• Part II.—: Procedure.
• Section XIII.: Definitions. *
• Section XIV.: Examination of Solicitors.
• Section XV.: Initiatory Examination of Parties, &c.
• Section XVI.: Appropriate Intercourse, Constant and Universal, Secured.
• Section XVII.: Mutual Security For Forthcomingness of Persons and Things. ‡
• Section XVIII.: Evidence-procuring Money, How Provided.
• Section XIX.: Subsequential Evidence, How Elicited.
• Section XX.: Execution, How Performed.
• Section XXI.: Equity Court Costs, How Disposed Of.
• Section XXII.: Dispatch Court Costs, How Disposed Of.
• Section XXIII.: Eventual Retrotransference of a Suit to the Equity Court.
• Section XXIV.: Expense of the Court, How Provided For.
• Supplemental Sections:—
• Section I. Or XXV.: Bankruptcy and Insolvency.
• Section II. Or XXVI.: Henceforward Dispatch Court.
• Schedules to the Bill.
• Plan of Parliamentary Reform, In the Form of a Catechism, With Reasons For Each Article: With an Introduction, Showing the Necessity of Radical, and the Inadequacy of Moderate, Reform.
• Introduction.
• Section I.: History of the Ensuing Tract—alarming State of the Country and the Constitution.
• Section II.: Most Prominent Present Grievance, Gareisoning France.
• Section III.: Causes of the Above and All Other Mischiefs:—particular Interests Monarchical and Aristocratical, Adverse to the Universal—their Ascendency.
• Section IV.: Sole Remedy In Principle—democratic Ascendency.
• Section V.: Remedy In Detail: Radical Parliamentary Reform: Elementary Arrangements In This Edition of It—their Necessity.
• Section VI.: Differences Between This and the Original Editions of Radical Reform.
• Section VII.: Virtual Universality of Suffrage Further Considered.
• Section VIII.: Virtual Universality of Suffrage—its Undangerousness.
• Section IX.: Freedom of Suffrage Further Explained—seductive Influence—its Forms, Instruments, &c.
• Section X.: Bribery and Terrorism Compared.
• Section XI.: Purchase of Seats—in What Cases Mischievous—in What Beneficial.
• Section XII.: Secresy of Suffrage—its Importance Further Developed.
• Section XIII.: Exclusion of Placemen, &c. From the Right of Voting—mischievousness and Profligacy of the Opposite Arrangement.
• Section XIV.: Universal Constancy of Attendance—its Importance.
• Section XV.: Representatives—impermanence of Their Situation—its Importance:—objections—their Groundlessness.
• Section XVI.: Moderate Reform—its Arrangements—their Inadequacy.
• Section XVII.: Trienniality Inadequate;—annuality Necessary.
• Section XVIII.: Interests Adverse to Adequate Reform—support Given By Them to Moderate, to the Exclusion of Radical: Tories—whigs—people’s Men.
• Catechism of Parliamentary Reform; Or, Outline of a Plan of Parliamentary Reform; In the Form of Question and Answer; With Reasons to Each Article.
• Section I.: Ends to Be Aimed At On the Occasion of Parliamentary Reform.
• Section II.: Means, Conducive Towards These Ends.
• Section III.: Means—their Uses, With Reference to Their Respective Ends.
• Section IV.: Means Conducive to Aptitude In Members: I. Placemen Not to Vote, Nor to Be Seated By Election.
• Section V.: Means, &c. Continued.—ii. Placemen Seated By the King, With Speech and Motion, Without Vote.
• Section VI.: Means, &c. Continued.—iii. Elections Frequent—annual.
• Section VII.: Means, &c. Continued.—iv. Speeches Authentically and Promptly Published.
• Section VIII.: Means, &c. Continued.—v. Attendance, Punctual and General, Secured.
• Section IX.: Inconveniences Incident to Elections, and Election Judicature.
• Section X.: Election Inconveniences—means For Their Removal.
• Section XI.: Collateral Advantages, Referable to the Situations of Electors, Placemen, Lords, &c.
• A Sketch of the Various Proposals For a Constitutional Reform In the Representation of the People, Introduced Into the Parliament of Great Britain, From 1770 to 1812.
• Radical Reform Bill, With Extracts From the Reasons.
• Preliminary Explanations.
• Title of the Proposed Act.
• Preamble.
• Section 1.—: Seats and Districts.
• Section 2.—: Electors, Who.
• Section 3.—: Eligible, Who.
• Section 4.—: Election Offices.
• Section 5.: Election Apparatus.
• Section 6.—: Promulgation of Recommendations In Favour of Proposed Members.
• Section 7.—: Voters’ Titles Pre-established.
• Section 8.—: Election, How.
• Section 9.: Election Districts and Polling Districts, How Marked Out.
• Section 10.—: Vote-making Habitations, How Defined.
• Section 11.—: Members’ Continuance.
• Section 12.—: Vacancies Supplied.
• Section 13.—: Security For the House Against Disturbance By Members. †
• Section 14.—: Indisposition of Speakers Obviated.
• Appendix, Including General Explanations.
• Radicalism Not Dangerous. Extracted From the Mss. of Jeremy Bentham. *
• Part I.—: Introduction.
• Section I.: Radical Reform Bill Recapitulated.
• Section II.: Persuasion of the Dangerousness of Radicalism—cause of It, and of the Vituperative Expression Given to It.
• Section III.: Terms of the Accusation,—speeches From the Throne, 16 Th July and 21 St November 1819.
• Section IV.: The Accusation In General Terms—counter-averment.
• Section V.: Plan of This Defence.
• Part II.—: Deference From the General Nature of the Case.
• Section I.: Conditions Necessary to a Man’s Embarking In Such a Design.
• Section VII.: Concurrence In Any Other Extensive Plan of Spoliation Impossible.
• Section VIII.: Concurrence of Any Constituted Authorities Impossible.
• Section IX.: Accomplishment Impossible—design Impossible.
• Section X.: The Talked-of Spunge No Proof of the Design.
• Part III.—: Defence From Experience In the Case of the United States.
• Part IV.: Defence From Particular Experience In the Case of Ireland: Years 1777 Or 1778, to 1783.
• Section I.: Analogy Between This and the Previous Case.
• Section II.: Democratic Ascendency, How Produced.
• Section III.: Fruit of Democratic Ascendency a Golden Age.
• Section IV.: Coincidence of Its Characters With Those of Radicalism.
• Section VI.: Extinction of Democratic Ascendency and Reform—restoration of Monarchico-aristocratical Ascendency, and Its Consequences.
• Conclusion.

SECTION VIII.

CONSIGNEES;* OR SAY, IN-TRUST-HOLDERS.

Expositive.

Art. 1. By an In-trust-holder, understand a functionary, to whose custody and care, with or without management, under the orders of the Judge, a thing or a person has been consigned, or say delivered, and thus confided; namely, by a prehensor, until the arrival—of the thing, in kind or in value, at its ultimate destination,—of the person at his ultimate destination,—on the occasion, and for the purposes, of the suit.

Art. 2. By a confidee, understand—a thing, or a person, so confided.

Instructional.

Art. 3. On the purposes, for which, on the occasion in question, the consignment is made, will depend—the description of the person or persons to whom, as above, in the capacity of In-trust-holders, the confidee is confided, or say intrusted: in this description,—qualifications and number, as in the articles hereinafter following, being included.

Art. 4. Of the ultimate purpose,—or say of the aggregate of all these purposes collectively taken,—the description is, the giving, in the completest manner and degree possible, consistently with the non-production of preponderant evil, execution and effect to such articles or clauses, in virtue of which, for the purpose of giving execution and effect to that part of the substantive law which is in question, termination may, in favour of whichsover side it be, require to be given to the suit.

Art. 5. As to things, of which—they being originally in the custody of the Judges of the existing judicatories in question, as per Section VI. art. 9, the value is purely relative,—either they will not need to be prehended, or if prehended, they will, in an immediate way, be delivered to, and placed in the custody of, the Registrar of the Dispatch Court. In relation to such things,—no demand for the service of an In-trust-holder will have place.

Art. 6. Of the sorts of things intrinsically valuable, by the nature of which a demand for the service of an In-trust-holder may have place,—some there are in relation to which it may happen that no demand for special management has place: nothing beyond safe custody. In the case of things of these sorts, so as the proposed In-trust-holder be in himself sufficiently trustworthy or by collateral security rendered so, what may happen to be the case, and, generally speaking, will be so, is—that, for no special qualification on the part of a proposed In-trust-holder is there any demand;—and that, for the due and adequate exercise of the functions belonging to the trust, a single In-trust-holder will be sufficient. Examples of things thus circumstanced are the following:—

• 1. Money to any amount.
• 2. A dwelling, furnished or unfurnished.

Art. 7. For the due and adequate exercise of the functions of an In-trust-holder—in relation to things or aggregates of things, with relation to which, demand for special and appropriate management has place,—correspondent demand for qualifications, in various groups, corresponding to the respective natures of such things, will in consequence have place. Examples are the following:—

i. Ground-husbandry profit-seeking concerns:

• 1. Agricultural.
• 2. Mining.
• 3. Fishing.

ii. Manufacturing profit-seeking concerns:

• 1. Manufactures by wholesale.
• 2. Handicraft businesses.

iii. Merely distributional profit-seeking concerns:

1. Wholesale trades, home, or say domestic.

2. Wholesale trades, foreign.

3. Retail trades.

4. Trade, ambulatory by water.

iv. A profit-seeking concern, having for its subject-matter a thing incorporeal:—source of profit,—the exclusive right to sell things of the species in question; this right being derived from—

• 1. The inventorship thereof; or
• 2. The fabricatorship; or,
• 3. The vendorship.

Example of the inventorship,—authorship of a literary or imitative work.*

Enactive.—Instructional.

Art. 8. On the occasion of the location of an In-trust-holder, it will be for the care of the Judge to look out for persons, one or more, possessed of appropriate qualifications, correspondent and adapted, as above, to the nature of the concern, whatsoever it may be:—hearing whatsoever may be learnt, in the shape either of proposal, or argumentation, from all parties interested: that is to say, in so far as distance, and thence danger of preponderant evil by delay, will admit.

Art. 9. So, to take into consideration the number of the In-trust-holders, whether it shall be one or more; and whether in the case of a concern which has divers branches, they shall be intrusted—all of them, to one hand or assemblage of hands, or one to one, another to another, and so on.

Art. 10. So, the exaction of security at the hands of In-trust-holders: in regard to each, whether it shall be exacted; and, if yes, in what shape: and,—whether security from within, or say ab intra, shall suffice,—or security from without, or say collateral, or ab extra, shall be added;—from within, that is to say, by eventual appropriate obligations, submitted to by the In-trust-holder himself: from without, that is to say, by such obligations submitted to by co-obligees, or say, in the present case, co-assecurators.

Art.11. So, the several appropriate functions, which, in relation to the things in question, may require to be exercised by such In-trust-holders respectively:—functions, namely,

i. As to things:—1. The procurative; 2. The conservative; 3. The applicative; 4. The reparative; 5. The eliminative.

ii. As to money:—1. The procurative; 2. The custoditive; 3. The applicative.

iii. As to things, money, persons, and occurrences:—1. The statistic; 2. The minutative and recordative.

iv. As to states of things, arrangements, and ordinances: the melioration-suggestive.*

Art. 12. So in regard to remuneration: namely, in the instance of each such In-trust-holder, whether any shall be received by him; and if yes, its quantity and its quality; or say how much, and in what shape.

Art. 13. In regard to the shape, it will be the Judge’s care, that in no instance it shall be such as to place his interest in a state of opposition to his duty. Examples of such opposition, these—

1. In In-trust-holder’s hands, money continuing in such quantity as to be capable of affording profit in the shape of interest.

Art. 14. So in regard to stock, in all shapes, as per art. 7: the Judge giving admission, and having, at all times, regard to suggestions by interessee, as per art. 8.

Art. 15. In and by the instrument of consignment, or say the consignment-effecting mandate, the Dispatch Court Judge will make mention of the purpose for which the transfer is made. As for instance,—

1. Purpose, management. Name of the instrument, the management-prescribing—or say directing—mandate. Form, as per Schedule No. XVIII.

2. Purpose, sale. Name of this his instrument, the sale-directing—or say prescribing—mandate. Form, as per Schedule No. XIX.

So, if for any other purpose.

Art. 16. Now, as to the case where the confidee is a person.—General heads under which the purposes, as per art. 4, may be ranked in this case, these:—

1. Remedial:—functions of the In-trust-holder in this case, those of a keeper.

2. Tutelary:—functions, those of a guardian.

3. Evidence-securing:—functions, those of a keeper.

Art. 17. General purpose remedial,—specific purposes, in this case, may be—

i.Preventive: Examples:—

1. Prevention of acts of force, having for their object obstruction to the exercise of any power belonging to the Dispatch Court Judge.

2. Prevention of evasion, from consignment made of the confidee to any In-trust-holder, for the purpose of confinement: restrictive the purpose may, in this respect, be termed.

ii.Suppressive: to wit, of negative delinquency in the shape of non-compliance with a mandate of the Judge:—ordering, for example, the transference—or say extradition—of a thing, as per articles following, in the character of a source of evidence, written or real;—or of a person in the character of an evidence-holder:—and, in each case, for the purpose of prehension, and delivery to an In-trust-holder; or, ordering indication to be made of a matter of fact, for the purpose of its being employed in evidence: in this case, compulsive is the denomination of the remedy: compulsion being the means by which, or say the mode in which it operates.

iii.Satisfactive: including the compensative. Applied to a thing, the remedy in this shape may be administered by extradition as above: applied to a person, it cannot be administered otherwise than by effecting extradition of a thing or things—valuable, as above—and delivery thereof, in kind or in value, as above.

iv.Punitive, or say subsequentially preventive: In-trust-holder, in this case,—keeper of a place of confinement: the confidee being placed under the care and custody of the In-trust-holder: namely, whether for the purpose of punishment thereby to be suffered, or for prevention of evasion of ulterior punishment in that or any other shape.

Art. 18. Subject-matters for the consideration of the Judge are in this case the following; namely—

i. The quantity of the suffering to be applied.

ii. The place, within which, or at which, by the In-trust-holder, the confidee shall be kept, or say confined.

iii. The time during which such confinement shall continue.

Art. 19. Of the suffering applied, the Judge will of course keep the quantity reduced to the smallest amount, consistent with the fulfilment of the special purpose, as per art. 17, with a view to which it is inflicted,—and with the non-production of preponderant evil in any shape.

Art. 20. As to the place, it may be either stationary or ambulatory.

Examples of the places when stationary, these:—

i. The house of the confidee himself.

ii. The house of a friend of the confidee: the occupier of the house praying for, or consenting to, the application thus made of it.

iii.A lock-up-house: that is to say—a house, in which, by an In-trust-holder, by whom such his business is carried on—professionally and for profit, confidees are lodged with or without board, in a state of confinement.*

iv. Failing the above places, in case of necessity, a prison.

Ratiocinative.

Art. 20*. Why this power of inflicting punishment on the innocent?

Answer.—Reasons:—

i. In the case here in question, preponderant suffering to the imprisoned individual, none: to parties, one or more, for want of the evidence, suffering in a pecuniary shape to the magnitude of which no limits can be assignable.

ii. Of suppression of true evidence the maleficent effects may be as great as those of falsification of true evidence or fabrication of false: and suppression of evidence is, if wilful, an offence against justice.

iii. Punishment is not, in this case, a proper appellation. For divers purposes other than punishment is suffering in this same shape habitually produced in English law, and in the laws of civilized nations in general: namely, the purpose of prevention and of suppression, as applied to maleficent acts of all sorts. Punishment is one out of the four species of remedies employable in the cure of the disorder called delinquency: the three others are—1. The preventive; 2. The suppressive; 3. The satisfactive; The 4th is the punitive:—the preventive, that is to say, the antecedently preventive; the punitive having for its object the prevention of subsequential offences, and this being the only purpose for which the application of it is justifiable.

iv. Application of imprisonment for this very purpose, is not without example in English practice; nor are the examples rare.

v. This, too, without any of that attention which is here directed to be applied for the purpose of minimizing the suffering: and without either receipt or expectation of such attention, to imprisonment individuals purposely subject themselves—the evils of it being regarded by them as less than those to which, if out of prison, they would be subjected by indigence. See Section VI. Judge’s Powers.

Enactive.—Instructional.

Art. 21. Instead of stationary, as in the above four cases,—power to the Judge—to render the restriction as to place,—and thence the condition of the confidee in respect of rest and motion, ambulatory:† the course of his locomotion being all the while such as is most agreeable to him; the confidee going wheresoever he pleases, so as he be all the while in the custody of the In-trust-holder, or some person employed on the occasion by him, the In-trust-holder being responsible for his forthcomingness:—and subject always to all such mandates, restrictive, or even compulsive, as for any of the above desirable purposes, shall have been delivered by, or by order of, the Judge.

Art. 22. In every one of these cases—for prevention of evasion, security will, if needful, be exacted by the Judge, as per art 10, according to the circumstances of the individuals interested in each individual case:—regard being had to the two antagonizing objects of consideration; namely, the evil producible by evasion, and the good produced by reducing to its minimum the quantity of suffering inflicted for the prevention of that same evil.

Instructional.—Ratiocinative.—Exemplificative.

Art. 23. Minimized may be by these means the expense and vexation produced under and by the existing system, in the view of providing security for the forthcoming of the persons in question:—extinguished, for example, the abuses following:—

i. The bailing system* with its expense, delay, and vexation, as at present carried on.

ii. For transfer of real property, compulsion† applied to a party, to cause him to do that which, without agency in any shape on his part, might be done by the Judge: in which case, lodged in the same party’s hands, is a sort of negative applicable to the appropriate exercise of the judicial power in question, and capable not only of obstructing, but of frustrating it.

Enactive.—Expositive.

Art. 24.—II. General purpose the second, tutelary. Specific purposes correspond to the several efficient causes of the demand for the service of the In-trust-holder, which are the following:—

i. Intellectual weakness by reason of immaturity of age, or say, in one word, minority. Specific appellative of the In-trust-holder, in this case, guardian: of the confidee, ward.

ii. Intellectual weakness, by reason of mental derangement not referable to age. Specific appellative of the In-trust-holder in this case, committee; of the confidee, idiot, or lunatic: idiot, when the weakness is regarded as having had its commencement at birth, and as being thence incurable: lunatic, when regarded as having had its commencement at some point of time posterior to birth: and thence as curable or incurable as it may happen.

iii. Intellectual weakness, by reason of longevity: in which case it has been denominated caducity.

On this score, under the existing system, no such consignment is known to have had place: no appellative consequently in use, for the designation—either of an In-trust-holder or of a confidee. Appellatives that might here be applied are—to the In-trust-holder, curator; to the confidee, the over-aged.‡

Art. 25. Every minor, if any such there be, who, having father or mother living, is, in contrariety to the declared wishes of such father or mother, in wardship, under the Lord High Chancellor,—under the notion of the relative inaptitude of such his or her parent on the score of persuasion in matters of religion,—the Judge will emancipate from such guardianship; restoring the ward to the guardianship of the father; or, if the father be deceased, to that of the mother, or of any person by him or her appointed guardian, as the case may be.

Ratiocinative.

Art. 25*.—i. For if, on this score, a public functionary had it in his power to take a child out of the care of his natural guardian, or of any person by him or her appointed as guardian,—a power of persecution would thus be possessed, the peace of families exposed to disturbance, and, by successive Chancellors, so many mutually opposite persuasions might be endeavoured to be implanted in the same infant minds.

ii. So likewise, even if on the score of morals.

iii. If, throughout the whole community, in the case of all minors under natural or naturally appointed guardianship, as above—suits on this ground were liable to be instituted,—no end would there be to the number of such suits, nor to the length of them respectively.

iv. Supposing the institution of guardianship in this case beneficial, no sufficient reason can be assigned why the benefit should, by law, be conceded or denied, according to pecuniary circumstances; conceded to the rich, because rich; denied to the poor, because poor.∥

Enactive.—Instructional.

Art. 26.—III. General purpose the third, evidence-securing.—Case I. Confidee, a thing. Of a thing, considered in the character of a source of evidence,—prehension may require to be made, for either of the three purposes following:—

i. Securing its forthcomingness.

ii. Securing it against changes liable to be made in its appearance for the purpose of deception; or say, against forgery of real evidence.

iii. Securing it against change with the like effect, though without any such sinister purpose; whether such change be the effect of a purely natural cause, or of want of attention to prevent it.

Instructional

Art. 27. In this case, the Judge will have to consider—whether, of the change of hands,—loss or detriment, in any shape, to any person, will be a consequence: and, if yes, whether to place the thing in the hands of an In-trust-holder (making, at the charge of the party requiring the consignment, compensation for such detriment)—or, in consideration of such detriment, leaving it in the hands in which it was found.

Enactive.—Instructional.

Art. 28.—Case II. Confidee, a person.—For the purpose of evidence,—to prevent the deperition thereof, power is hereby given to the Judge to place, in quality of an Evidence-holder, a person, in case of need, in the condition of a Confidee, in the custody of an In-trust-holder:—that is to say, if in his (the Judge’s) opinion the importance of the suit to the parties, and the importance of the expected evidence in relation to the suit, are such as to afford an adequate compensation for the inconvenience about to result from the restraint.

Enactive.—Instructional.

Art. 29. In this case, of the costs of such consignment, including adequate compensation to the confidee for whatsoever inconvenience has in any shape been produced by the consignment,—that is to say, of the burthen of the cost,—distribution will be made between the parties, regard being had to their respective pecuniary circumstances.

Enactive.

Art. 30. By the Judge, an In-trust-holder of a thing or money may be—1. Located; 2. Suspended; 3. Dislocated; 4. Relocated. This, toties quoties. So, an Intrust-holder of a person.

Art. 31. For vexatious application made against an In-trust-holder, compensation may be made, or punishment inflicted.

[* ]Consignee.] 1. On a preceding occasion, namely, in Sect. VI. art. 29, 44, and 47, in the view of conformity to usage, this word was employed, for the purpose of giving expression to an idea, for the designation of which, it has on closer inspection been found unfit: this, as well as several other words, which, for their termination, have this same syllable ee.

2. For the purpose of giving denomination to the species of functionary, whose functions are spoken of in the text, some appellative was altogether indispensable; and a single-worded one, in every instance in which an apt one can either be found or made, is eminently desirable: namely, for conciseness, and for avoidance of that entanglement with the circumjacent words, which is, in the case of a many-worded appellative, so liable to have place.

3. By the three-worded appellative, Holder-in-trust, the idea in question may, with indisputable aptitude, be designated. But, by simple transposition, these three words, as the reader sees, are capable of being, as it were, melted into one.

4. Appellations, bearing the most perfect analogy in relation to this, are in most familiar use. Witness householder, innholder, freeholder, bottleholder. In the word intrustholder the number of syllables is not greater than in this same word bottleholder, so familiar to the practitioners and amateurs of pugilism.

5. Perhaps, for some little time to come, there may be a use in keeping the three component words separated from each other by two hyphens: as thus, in-trust-holder.

6. So much, as to the need and propriety of this second of the two appellations: the second employed as equivalent and synonymous to the first. Now as to the inaptitude of the first.

7. Whatsoever be the operation in question,—for conveying to the mind the idea of it, two sorts of appellations are and have at all times been requisite, not to say necessary: one, for the designation of the operator, or say agent; the other for the designation of the subject-matter operated upon, or say in one word the patient, whether the class this same patient belongs to be the class of things or that of persons: and, if the operation consists in the transference of the subject-matter from one hand (plainly or figuratively speaking) to another, then—requisite to be added is an appellative for the designation of a third object, which may be termed the recipient, or say receiver.

8. For the designation of the operator (whether plainly or figuratively so called) together with the subject-matter operated upon,—each expression being the correlative of the other,—the original language of the lawyer class—namely the Norman-French—furnished a pair of apt desinences, or say terminations: namely, for the operator, or, otherwise er (not to speak of ant and ent:) for the subject-matter operated upon, single é with an accent; rendered into English by a double ee.

9. Thus far, all was and is well. But, in process of time came upon the carpet, as being necessary to the completion of the group, the idea of a recipient, presenting, as above, a demand for an appellative. What was to be done? In this quandary,—up starts, with its accent on its head, LETTER é, and presents to view a species of appellative ready-made, and already in use. True it is—the idea was not exactly the same. It was, however, near of kin: and, the age being a rude and little-discriminating one,—an appellative, that belonged to another idea, and did not exactly fit the one in question, was in the hurry taken in hand, and clapt on to this new idea: as, in a crowded passage, a man will sometimes take up another man’s hat instead of his own.

10. Instances are—consignee, assignee, mortgagee, trustee. After what has been said, consignee and assignee speak for themselves: not so—mortgagee or trustee.

11. As to mortgagee,—the species of conveyance termed a mortgage being the transfer of the subject-matter in question from one hand to another, upon certain conditions,—the mortgagee should, according to the original analogy above-mentioned, be the name of that same subject-matter: and, for the designation of the person recipient, or in one word the receiver, some other appellative should have been, and accordingly should at present be, looked out for.

12. But, in the sense the inaptitude of which has thus been brought to view, so rooted in the language is this same word mortgagee while there is not as yet in use any other single-worded appellative by which this same idea can by possibility be brought to view,—that, for the present at least, it must be left in the undisturbed possession of the ground on which it has planted itself.

13. “For my part,” says the author of these pages, “never till this moment has it seemed to me that the idea associated in my mind with this word was a clear one.”

14. What has added to the confusion, has all along been—the syllable mort: meaning death. Death? what has it to do with the matter? as little as any other thing that can be mentioned. For this species of transfer, before any apt and generally intelligible set of appellatives can be found, Death must be turned out of doors, and a substitute for him or her provided. The Real Property Commission will (let us hope) find this operation not unworthy of being included in the catalogue of its so well-directed cares.

15. As to the word trustee,—it presents itself as being much too extensively and firmly rooted in the language, ever to be drawn out: nor, on the other hand, does any considerable harm appear to be done by it.

By a kindred, though not exactly similar, misapplication, the word “examinant,” substituted to examiner, has been, itself, taken for the subject-matter of examination, elsewhere.

16. Two other words here present themselves as having a claim to notice: namely, assignee and sequestrator. In both instances,—besides their inaptitude for bringing to view the correlative ideas herein above-mentioned,—their import is too narrow to admit of their receiving, on the present occasion, any employment.

17. As to the word assignee, the idea presented by it, is—that of a species of trustee, under whose care and management a stock of things of all sorts is placed, to the intent that it may be brought into the shape of money: of that money, the ultimate destination being—the distribution of it among a set of creditors.

18. In that case, in the idea of the subject-matter confided is not included that of a person: except in the singular, and happily comparatively-narrow, case of slavery: and, for the present purpose, a word capable of being made to present the idea of a person as well as that of a thing, was necessary.

19. By the word sequestrator, the idea presented is—that of a functionary, whose functions are confined to the case where the subject-matter of the intermediate possession is a thing; namely, a thing immoveable, and that not intended to be converted into money.

20. Two sorts of judicatories there are—in which, to a functionary whose functions are of this description, employment is occasionally given by the Judge: namely, an Equity Court, and an Ecclesiastical Court: both acting under Rome-bred-law.

21. Of the term consignee, the use seems to have been, hitherto, confined to the case where the parties, both or one of them, are traders, and it is in the way of trade, that the things in question (which may be actually received or not, as it may happen,) are designed to be received.

[* ]Of property in this shape, mention may be seen made in Penal Code Table, attached to Constitutional Code.

[* ]See Constitutional Code, Chap. XI. Ministers severally, throughout.

[* ]Under the existing system, the colloquial name for a house of this sort is—a spunging-house. The denomination is of that character, which has been termed dyslogistic. See Table of the Springs of Action. (I. 195.) Neutral name, no other than lock-up-house, as above, hath as yet been found.

[† ]Ambulatory.] Within the memory of the author of these pages, Davy, serjeant-at-law, a man alike conspicuous for his eloquence and the profuseness of his expense, was seen travelling on the circuit in the custody of the sort of sheriff’s officer, termed a Bound-Bailiff, or Bum-Bailiff.

[* ]Bailing system.] Final cause of, and motive to, the abuses in this case—1. Lawyers’ profit on the needless operations on the occasion in question performed, and written instruments framed and issued; 2. Benefit of patronage with relation to the several subordinate judiciary offices, by the possession of which the functions in relation to those same operations and instruments are performed.

[† ]Final cause of, and motives to, this needless compulsion—1. Lawyers’ profit, as above, upon the operations and instruments employed in the endeavour, real or pretended, to effect it; 2. Addition to the value of the offices of all sorts employed in such endeavour, and of the patronage consisting of the power of location to these same offices. See Petitions for Justice, throughout.

Though suggested by the abuses belonging more particularly to the Equity Courts, the remedies here brought to view will be found equally applicable to those which, under the existing system, have place in all the other Courts in which justice is professed to be administered.

See a particular account of the needless increase of the expenses, in a letter, signed Henry Beamont, fourteen years officer of the Sheriff of Middlesex, in Spectator of August 14th, 1830.

[‡ ]Over-aged.] Analogous locutions:—1. Overgrown; 2. Overpaid; 3. Over-loaded; 4. Overworked; 5. Over-taxed.

Under the here-proposed summary system—under a system having for its ends in view the ends of justice,—evil to no inconsiderable amount might, every now and then, by consignment performed on this ground, be prevented. Under the existing regular system—under a system having for its ends in view, ends opposite to the ends of justice, namely, depredation, unpunishable, and irresistible, in the shape of profit to lawyers, official and professional—by the power of consignment on this ground, evil to a vast, an immeasurable, and an ever-increasing amount, would be produced.

From the misery produced already by the dominion exercised by the Chancery wolves over the young lambs, let any one, from observation and analogy, figure to himself the addition that would be made to it by the extension of it to the old sheep.

[∥ ]1. The incident by which a case was made for this provision, is a recent enactment of Judge-made law: an Act, made and passed, as in all other cases of Judge-made law, without any words belonging it, by the Earl of Eldon, when Lord Chancellor:—an arrangement by which, with such brilliant success, a new combination was made between sale and denial of justice: sale, for benefit in the shape of profit; denial, for benefit in the shape of ease: sale, to the comparative few who have wherewithal to pay the price; denial, to the immense many who have not.

2. In two interesting publications, the Honourable William Long Wellesley has lately given the history of a course of plunderage, in execution of the above predatory law, of which he and his have been, and still continue to be, victims. Of the property of him and his children, little if anything less than £50,000 (if I understand aright one who should best know, though others say not so much as £5,000) seized and distributed in the sort of receptacle which, in Holy Writ, is termed a den of thieves.

3. On the ground of this precedent, to any individual to whom it is agreeable to give acceptance to the offer—to every such individual, with or without confederacy with the head of the law, or his subordinates—on the ground of this precedent (for, under Matchless Constitution, a single precedent made by a single Judge suffices, on all occasions, to make law) a sure course may be seen opened, for the like plunderage, at the charge sooner or later of all the members of the aristocracy of the country,—those of both Houses of Parliament included. Having taken for the intended victim a sufficiently opulent family, in which a child under age is entitled to property independently of the father,—a Jackal, with or without concert with the Lion, by so simple a process as the filing a Bill in Equity against the father, transforms, by this means, the child into a ward of the High Court: the property in question is thereupon taken into the hands and placed at the disposal of the Judge; and the costs of the suit are taken out of it, as far as it goes:—by so extensively practicable a course of pillage, may the precedent set in Mr. Wellesley’s case be pursued and turned to account, to the extent herein-above described.

4. Now mind what this calumniator-general—this instrument and accomplice of every particular calumniator, who, as above, can and will come up to his price, and hire him—mind how he comports himself, should it happen to himself to be the object of defamatory imputation. Suppose it bribery, for example. If the imputation be true, he takes care not to proceed by civil action: for, in that case, the truth of it may be proved, and he brought to shame: no;—he proceeds by criminal prosecution: and in that case, security being thus provided for all malefactors, the truth is not permitted to be proved, and the man punished is—not he who committed the crime, but he who addressing himself to the Public Opinion Tribunal, gave information of it:—a sample this, out of thousands upon thousands, of what, under Matchless Constitution, is administered under the name of justice!!

5. Note here—that, though, in this case, impropriety, in some shape, in the conduct of the father, must be imputed, it is not necessary that the imputation should have so much as a syllable of truth in it, for (as shown in Petition for Justice, Device 4) in the shop of which the Lord High Chancellor is Master, and his Vice-Chancellor and his Master of Rolls, Foremen,—is sold the faculty of ruining—not only the fortune but the character of the victim; and this by a process, the success of which is altogether out or the reach of disappointment, in every case, in which so much of the pecuniary means of attack as the plaintiff is able and willing so to apply, are sufficient to exhaust the pecuniary means of resistance: instead of suing to Public Opinion, he prosecutes;—thereupon eulogized is the criminal—punished his just accuser.—Matchless-Constitution-justice this!