JB/031/078/001

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1828 July 24

Blackstone Preface
(1) Delay by vacations

1
Terms & vacations
obstructions to justice

A sad obstruction to justice was and is the
division of the year into term-times and vacations times: term
times during which certain the proceedings in a suit might be carried on, vacation
times, during which those same proceedings could not
be carried on. Of term times the aggregate amounts to
about days: of vacation times to about days,
days in one vacation called the long one, about:
At the same time for the performance of that operation which
was the only ultimately natural as preparation f

At the same time for all trials except those at London
and including Westminster, that is to say in the precincts no more than two or three days in the
year or twice two or three days in the year were allowed:
and the trial in into the compass of these two or three days all
the trials how numerous so ever that a whole county happens to afford must
be squeezed, or remain unperformed. Now the trust
is the only operation for which any space of time beyond a
few minutes is really necessary: for in this recourse it is that
the whole of the evidence belonging to the case is elicited: and for
the elicitation of this evidence same mass of information in each of one of any
number of suits which days in a number to which no
precise limit can be set, may be necessary. (a)

2
Large proportion of
suits necessarily untried
for 6 or more months;
another proportion suit
by Judge before daily-paid
arbitrators.

One consequence is that in a large num proportion
of the whole number of ca suits set down for trial, there is one which it turns out
that there is no time for trying r them for a on that occasion
in consequence of which if tried at all they can not be tried
till half a year or a whole year after: and in another
large proportion, that they in the nature of them they can not
be brought before a Jury at all: whereupon by the power of
the Judge, and the consent of the lawyers on both sides, the consent
of the parties not being asked for, the parties are compelled
to carry on the whole suit before arbitrators, who are generally
la Barristers paid by the day at so much a day, and thus engaged by interests to give to the delay
and the expense as of witnesses
the utmost encrease possible,
and without power after
all without the power of
giving execution and effect
to their award when made.

(a) The trial of Elizabeth Conway for perjury occupied several weeks.

Identifier: | JB/031/078/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 31.
Date_1	1828-07-24	Marginal Summary Numbering	1-2
Box	031	Main Headings	civil code
Folio number	078	Info in main headings field	blackstone jud.
Image	001	Titles
Category	text sheet	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	c1
Penner	jeremy bentham	Watermarks	b&m 1828
Marginals	george bentham	Paper Producer	arthur moore; richard doane
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1828
Notes public		ID Number	9764
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