EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 433 
refpedive laws, and the adminiftration of public juftice. 
Though a multitude of commentaries has been written on the 
fimple maxims contained in the Koran, applying them to the 
particular cafes which occur in foclety, the whole falls far fhort, 
in point of extent, of the moft fimple fyftems of jurifprudence 
with which we are acquainted. The fmgle circumftance of 
each man being advocate in his own caufe, contradts all judicial 
proceedings to a fmall compafs, and, whether juftly or unjuftly, 
all legal difputes are fpeedily terminated. So that no man can 
bequeath to his family the inheritance of judicial ruin. 
It will no doubt be thought, that the corrupt charadler of 
judges, and the fale of their decrees, are evils for which no 
advantages can compenfate ; and here, at leaft, it may be urged, 
that in Europe the adminiftration of juftice is more equal, and 
the right is not generally to be ftiaken by a bribe. 
On the other hand, whatever may be the integrity of the 
judges in their decifions, the length and delay of the pro- 
ceedings is fufficient to re-produce all the evils which are 
thought to be obviated by the abfence of judicial corruption. 
If one of the parties be poor and the other rich, the latter 
commonly has the option of ruining the former by throwing 
impediments in the way of a decifion ; and it is of little im- 
portance to a man to know that he is ultimately viflorious, 
when his property is already confumed, ere the caufe draw near 
its termination. 
But 
