Lysander Spooner

If there are any such, why do we so seldom, or never, hear of them?

Is there any one of these men, who studies justice as a science, and regards that alone in all his professional exertions?

A trial in one of these courts of injustice is a trial by battle, almost, if not quite, as really as was a trial by battle, five hundred or a thousand years ago.

The mode of trial, if not as infamous as the trial itself, is at least so utterly false and absurd, as to add a new element of uncertainty to the result of all judicial proceedings.

Is it any wonder that so many give up all attempts to preserve their natural rights of person and property, in opposition to tribunals, to whom justice and injustice are indifferent, and whose ways are, to common minds, hidden mysteries…

Is it any wonder that all men live in constant terror of such a government as that?

Human nature has no rights, in the presence of these infernal tribunals.

But for the great body of the people,--those who have no money that they can afford to risk in a lawsuit,--no matter what may be their rights in either a civil or criminal suit,--their cases are hopeless.

To save these you can afford to risk your money, even though the result is so uncertain.

But your reputation, your liberty, or perhaps your life, is at stake.

But no matter how innocent you may be of any real crime, you need have no hope of an acquittal, if the statute book, or the past decisions of the supreme court, are against you.

So, also, no matter how unjust your cause may be, you may nevertheless expect to gain it, if the statutes and past decisions are in your favor.