It is marked ready and the
office-boys sit about the court and telephone to the lawyers when they
think there is a chance of being nearly reached. This often takes
several days. In the meanwhile the cases ahead of the Bowring case
have been dragging out their slow and weary performance on the court
stage. Matters of fact that should have taken five minutes to bring
out by the present usual laborious system of proof, have taken two
hours. Argument of counsel on abstruse questions of law have worn and
confused the jury and the clients, who have become exhausted and
impatient.
The clients and witnesses may have been sitting, trying to understand
and becoming more and more mystified.
The dealings of open-handed Justice ought to be plain, prompt, and
understandable; instead to the spectator she seems a mysterious jade
with no understanding of everyday life. She keeps them waiting there
without reason. If the case is marked ready it ought to be ready. The
business man feels that Justice is extremely tardy in keeping her
appointments.
His natural reverence for abstract Justice prevents him formulating
these thoughts, but he continues to wonder. Not understanding the
cause he becomes dissatisfied and his experience in court leaves a
profound contempt for the system of jurisprudence.
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