SEPARATION OF FUNCTIONS. 125 



relying too much on the accused's admission of 

 the charge, and the like. 



" The police are apt, on the other hand, to 

 charge the magisterial authorities with inflicting 

 inadequate punishment on great or habitual 

 offenders, with requiring redundant proof, 

 beyond what is necessary to moral conviction, 

 with undue severity in punishing the police if 

 they exceed their legal authority, and the like. 



''It will be seen that a zealous officer in 

 either department would always be liable to 

 give some ground to such charges, according as 

 his natural tendency might be to detect and 

 prosecute crime, or to sit in impartial judgment 

 on the accused : and the fact that such charo-es 

 are continually brought forward on both sides, 

 and are proved not to be altogether groundless, 

 while they rarely, if ever, are found to be serious 

 in character, is, I think, a strong proof that the 

 separation of the two departments works well 

 for both the prevention and detection of crime, 

 and for the administration of justice ; and that, 

 if both functions were intrusted to one official, 

 there would be a greater chance of serious error, 

 according as his character and sympathies in- 



