any extraneous matter or legal nonsense, nor to per-
mit any legal quibble, with power to commit any legal
advocate upon the second offence on one cause, he
having been admonished on the preceding offence.
The following positions admitted by almost every Eng-
lishman except some of the legal profession
That the laws are inadequate and absurd.
That there are thousands of thieves and thousands of
receivers of stolen goods in the Metropolis alone,
known as such to the police.
That few persons think of going to bed without barri-
cading the house like a castle.
That legal documents are perhaps impossible to be true
in all their parts.
That such a medley could not have been beneficial at
any time, and is now calculated to outrage every
unprejudiced mind that reflects upon it.
That a simple code of laws judiciously, assiduously, and
promptly applied in all their stages would be efficient
in combating the oppression of the innocent, the
screen of the guilty, and the wages of the iniquitous.
That our civil code is also saturated with absurdity and
oppression very unfavourable to justice, and pro-
ducing a constantly operating large mass of distress
to individuals and families.
That these circumstances are true all England cries
aloud, and there is no difficulty in framing laws to
remove these mischievous and monstrous anomalies.
The effects of rational simple laws, rationally and
simply administered, would convince the thieves
themselves that honesty was the best policy.