TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in spelling, punctuation, and hyphenation have been standardized.
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The Law's Lumber Room
Of this Edition 600 copies have been printedfor England and America.
The
Law's Lumber Room
By
Francis Watt
London
John Lane, The Bodley Head, Vigo St.
Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co.
MDCCCXCV
TO
WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM
FROM HIS OLD JOURNAL
PREFATORY
To the Lumber Room you drag furnitureno longer fit for daily use, and there it lies,old fashioned, cumbrous, covered year byyear with fresh depths of dust. Is itfanciful to apply this image to the Law?Has not that its Lumber Room of repealedStatutes, discarded methods, antiquatedtext-books—"many a quaint and curiousvolume of forgotten lore"?
But law, even when an actual part ofthe life of to-day is like to prove a tediousthing to the lay reader, can one hope tofind the dry bones of romance in itsantiquities? I venture to answer, "Yes."Among all the rubbish, the outworn instrumentsof cruelty, superstition, terror,there are things of interest. "Benefit ofClergy," the "Right of Sanctuary," bulklarge in English literature; the "Law ofthe Forest" gives us a glimpse into thelife of Mediæval England as actual as,though so much more sombre than, thevision conjured up in Chaucer's magicPrologue. "Trial by Ordeal" and "Wagerof Battle" touch on superstitions and beliefsthat lay at the very core of thenation's being.
"As full of fictions as English law,"wrote Macaulay in the early part of thecentury; but we have changed that, weare more practical, if less picturesque, andJohn Doe and all his tribe are longout of date. Between the reign of JamesI. and that of Victoria all the subjects herediscussed have suffered change, with oneexception. The "Press-Gang" is still alegal possibility, but how hard to fancy itever again in actual use!
I fear that these glimpses of other daysmay seem harsh and sombre; there is bloodeverywhere; the cruel consequences of lawor custom are pushed to their logical conclusionswith ruthless determination. Thecontrast to the almost morbid sentimentalismof to-day is striking. So difficultit seems to hit the just mean! Butthe improvement is enormous. Gibes atthe Law are the solace of its victims, andno one would deprive them of so innocenta relief, yet if these cared to enquire theywould often find that the mark of theirjest had vanished years ago to the LumberRoom.
The plan of these papers did not permita detailed reference to authorities, but Ihave mentioned every work from which Iderived special assistance. I will only addthat this little book originally appeared ascontributions to the National Observerunder Mr W. E. Henley's editorship. Ihave made a few additions and corrections.