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  THE LAW AND THE POOR


  BY HIS HONOUR JUDGE
  EDWARD ABBOTT PARRY

  AUTHOR OF "DOROTHY OSBORNE'S LETTERS," "JUDGMENTS
  IN VACATION," "WHAT THE JUDGE SAW," "THE SCARLET
  HERRING," "KATAWAMPUS," ETC.


  "Laws grind the poor and rich men rule the law."
  OLIVER GOLDSMITH: "The Traveller."


  LONDON
  SMITH, ELDER & CO., 15, WATERLOO PLACE
  1914




  TO THE MAN IN THE STREET
  THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED,
  IN THE PIOUS HOPE THAT
  HE WILL TAKE UP HIS JOB
  AND DO IT.




CONTENTS


  CHAP.                                               PAGE

  INTRODUCTION                                          ix

  REFERENCES                                            xv

     I. PAST AND PRESENT                                 1

    II. THE ANCIENTS AND THE DEBTOR                     20

   III. OF IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT IN ENGLAND             36

    IV. HOW THE MACHINE WORKS                           58

     V. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION                          76

    VI. BANKRUPTCY                                     106

   VII. DIVORCE                                        125

  VIII. FLAT-TRAPS AND THEIR VICTIMS                   152

    IX. POVERTY AND PROCEDURE                          172

     X. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT                           189

    XI. THE POLICE COURT                               213

   XII. LANDLORD AND TENANT                            233

  XIII. THE TWO PUBLIC HOUSES: I. THE ALEHOUSE         252

   XIV. THE TWO PUBLIC HOUSES: II. THE WORKHOUSE       271

    XV. REMEDIES OF TO-DAY                             285

   XVI. REMEDIES OF TO-MORROW                          299

  INDEX                                                311




INTRODUCTION

    "But, say what you like, our Queen reigns over the greatest nation
    that ever existed."

    "Which nation?" asked the younger stranger, "for she reigns over two."

    The stranger paused; Egremont was silent, but looked inquiringly.

    "Yes," resumed the stranger after a moment's interval. "Two nations;
    between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as
    ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they
    were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets;
    who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food,
    are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same
    laws."

    "You speak of----," said Egremont, hesitatingly.

    "THE RICH AND THE POOR."

    BENJAMIN DISRAELI: "Sybil, or The Two Nations."


The rich have many law books written to protect their privileges, but the
poor, who are the greater nation, have but few. Not that I should like to
call this a law book, for two reasons: firstly, it would not be true;
secondly, if it were true, I should not mention it, as I want people to
read it.

You cannot read law books, you only consult them. A law book seeks to set
out the law, the whole law, and nothing but the law on the subject of
which it treats. There are many books on Poor Law, there are hundreds of
volumes about the Poor, and many more about the Law, but the Law and the
Poor is a virgin subject.

It is a wonder that it should be so because it is far more practical and
interesting than either of its component parts.

It is as if poetry had dealt with beans or with bacon and no poet had
hymned the more beautiful associations of beans and bacon. In the same way
the Law and the Poor is a subject worthy of treatment in drama or poetry,
but that that may be successfully done someone must do the rough spade
work of digging the material out of the dirt heaps in which it lies, and
presenting it in a more or less palatable form. When this has been done
the poet or the politician can come along and throw the crude metal into
the metres of sonnets or statutes or any form of glorious letters they
please.

From the very earliest I have taken a keen interest in this subject. I
remember well when I was a schoolboy the profound impression made upon me
by Samuel Plimsoll's agitation to rescue merchant seamen from the horrible
abuses practised by a certain class of shipowner. My father, Serjeant
Parry, was engaged in litigation for Plimsoll, and I heard many things at
first hand of that great reformer's hopes and disappointments.

There were a class of traders known as "ship knackers," who bought up old
unseaworthy vessels and sent them to sea overloaded and over-insured.
Plimsoll, for years, devoted himself to prevent this wickedness. There was