JB/056/015/001

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1824. Jany. 9.
Collectanea

2
Scots Appeals.

to his views, against an unanimous judgment
of the first second division against him, or perchance a
judgment pronounced by three of the judges in the
Inner House against the opinion of the other two,
and also against that of the other two Judges who
may have been formally consuesed by the Court,
but whose opinion had not weight with the majority
of three; the party thus being taught by experience
the uncertainty of Scots Law, having thus the opinion of the
Court which decided his case, that confidence is not to be
placed in the unanimous opinion of ten of the Judges,
and inflamed by the previous litigation, resolves to rest
satisfied with nothing short of the judgment of that tribunal
against which there is no appeal.

3. Next to these is the singular incongruity of all
our Judges being permitted to review their own judgments,
even in cases where no new facts are averred.

Judges are so separated from the rest of mankind, and
therefore do not act by the same rules of conduct; but on
the ordinary principles of human nature, such as power
in common men would be productive of much
evil. If it be said that this is in order to enable the party
to ripen his statement of the facts of the case, I answer
that this is a matter which should be otherwise provided
for. No case should be decided till the facts are
finally fixed. where we are certain, in ordinary life; that
we shall have an opportunity of reconsidering any case,
if our judgment is not satisfactory to all concerned,
it is not possible that, on the first occasion, the same attention will be given
to the discovery of facts
and the same
consideration bestowed on it, as if no such power existed.
But when the period of review arrives, a very different
set of principles are brought into activity — a
leaning to our former determination — an indisposition
to allow that the first opinion was wrong — an idea
that the case had already been sufficiently considered —
a difficulty in giving to facts recently adduced, the
same weight which they would have had at first, and
a certain feeling that the party should have stated them
before, all conspire to the first decision being adhered to;
while the chance of that final decision being right is,
by the course of proceeding, deeply injured. 4. The

Identifier: | JB/056/015/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 56.
Date_1	1824-01-09	Marginal Summary Numbering	3
Box	056	Main Headings
Folio number	015	Info in main headings field	Collectanea
Image	001	Titles
Category	Collectanea	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	F2
Penner		Watermarks	J WHATMAN TURKEY MILL 1823
Marginals	Jeremy Bentham	Paper Producer	Jonathan Blenman
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1823
Notes public		ID Number	18071
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