250 The Ideal State 



interpretation of Acts of Parliament, there would not 

 be half the number of judges required of those who now 

 adorn our seats of judgment. They forget also that 

 medicine can never be an exact science, on account of 

 the differences existing between all members of the 

 species, so much so that no doctor can be sure of the 

 effect of any one drug until he has administered it in 

 each particular individual. In the case we have men- 

 tioned three verdicts in his favour were no good to the 

 poor man ; had he lost in the first instance before the 

 Lord Ordinary he could not have appealed, because he 

 had no money to enable him to do so with safety. This 

 is where wealth is given an undue weight in matters of 

 so-called justice. Before long we hope that the legal 

 instrument will become part of the Civil Service, and 

 thus the poor will be efficiently protected from the 

 onslaught of the rich, and the rich will find that 

 justice is above their gilded sway. 



To pursue the argument, the judge is paid a large 

 salary, so that the legal expenses are apart from this 

 altogether. The main item in all legal expenses is the 

 payment of the barrister's fees, whose charges vary from 

 five to a hundred guineas per day, according to experi- 

 ence and reputation. Here again is another cause of 

 injustice ; the rich man buys up, in legal phraseology, 

 " retains " the ablest advocate on any given question 

 by huge payments, with the idea largely of preventing his 

 opponent getting the benefit of such help and advice. 

 We begin now to understand why the Law allows cases 

 to be appealed again and again. It is solely in the in- 

 terests of the Bar, who require large incomes on account 

 of their social position, and for the reason that later 

 on, when Lord Justiceships and titles come to them, 

 they may be able to take their place with that of the 

 landed aristocracy. We have seen that this power of 

 appeal is bad from the people's standpoint, and there- 



