It will scarcely be credited, although it is most unquestionably true, that the mere costs of these actions, although made up, and not defended at all, would amount to 68,728l.—And if defended, the aggregate expence to recover 81,791l. must be—(strange and incredible as it may appear), no less than 285,905l.! being considerably more than three times the amount of the debts sued for.
The mind is lost in astonishment at the contemplation of a circumstance, marking, in so strong a degree, the deficiency of this important branch of the jurisprudence of the Country.
Through this new medium we discover one of the many causes of the increase of crimes.—And hence that caution which men in business are compelled to exercise (especially in the Metropolis), to avoid transactions with those who are supposed to be devoid of principle.
Whenever the Laws cannot be promptly executed, at an expence, that will not restrain the worthy and useful part of the Community from the following up their just rights, bad men will multiply. The morals of the People will become more and more corrupted, and the best interests of the State will be endangered.
In a political as well as in a moral point of view, it is an evil that should not be suffered to exist; especially when it can be demonstrated, that a remedy may be applied, without affecting the pecuniary interest of the more reputable part of the Profession of the Law, while it would unquestionably produce a more general diffusion of Emolument.
If, instead of the various inferior Courts for the recovery of debts, (exclusive of the Courts of Conscience) which have been mentioned in this Chapter, and which are of very limited use on account of appeals lying in all actions above 5l.—the Justices, in General Sessions of the Peace, specially commissioned, were to be empowered to hear and determine finally, by a Jury, all actions of debt under 50l. and to tax the Costs in proportion to the amount of the Verdict, great benefits would result to the Public. At present, the rule is to allow the same cost for forty shillings as for ten thousand pounds![184]—It depends only on the length of the pleadings, and not on the value of the action.
Humanity, Justice, and Policy, plead for an improvement of the System; more particularly when it is recollected that, between Six and Seven Thousand unfortunate persons are arrested annually on mesne process in Middlesex alone, one half of whom are for debts under twenty pounds. In the kingdom at large, the number is not less than Forty Thousand for trifling debts in the course of a year!—The unavoidable expence, therefore, at the lowest computation, is a most grievous burden, which on many occasions, sends both the plaintiff and defendant to a gaol, for the Attorney's bills, to the total ruin of themselves, and often to the destruction of their families.
The Evil, in this view, is exceedingly prominent.—It involves in it consequences which trench upon the best interests of the Country. The Mischief increases, unperceived by the people at large, and Remedies are not applied; because few men will subject themselves to investigations of great labour, without which facts are not to be obtained; and without facts it is impossible to reason with accuracy, or to draw just conclusions upon any subject.
It will be found upon inquiry, that the miseries of a gaol, by which the inferior orders of the people are often punished, do not so frequently attach to the worthless and profligate part of the Community, as to those who have been useful members of the State—Like the adroit thief, encouraged to proceed by many escapes, Knaves are seldom victims to the severity of the Law.—The Innocent, and often the Industrious, unskilled in the tricks and artifices which bad men pursue to rid themselves of incumbrances, (for which there is abundant resource in the chicane of the Law;) are generally the sufferers.
To incarcerate one member of the body politic, whose misfortunes and losses may have arisen from giving credit to another, who is relieved by a Commission of Bankrupt,[185] because his debts amounted to more than 100l. seems not well to accord with Justice, Humanity, or State Policy. It debases the minds of thousands whose conduct never deserved such a fate—who were from the nature of their dealings, although small, entitled upon the principle adopted by the Legislature, to the same relief which is extended to the higher classes by whom they often suffer—and sometimes too by the most worthless and depraved.—While no good can arise from their confinement, it is thus rendered infinitely more severe than that, which is, in many instances, inflicted on criminal offenders.—Their labour is lost to the Community.—Their families are neglected—and perhaps reared up in vice and idleness to become Nuisances in that Society, of which they might have been virtuous and useful Members.