of it, for the United States Supreme Court. Also I have
spoken disparagingly of the English institution of solicitordom. But
these isolated expressions of opinion on particular points must not be
interpreted as a statement that American laws and procedure are on the
whole comparable to the English. I do not believe that they are. None
the less Englishmen have as a rule such vague notions upon this subject
that some explanatory comment seems to be desirable.

Especially do few Englishmen (not lawyers or students of the subject)
recognise that the abuses in the administration of justice in America,
of which they hear so much, do not occur in the United States courts,
but in the local courts of the several States. So far as the United
States (_i. e._, the Federal) Courts are concerned I believe that the
character and capacity of the judges (all of whom are appointed and not
elected) compare favourably with those of English judges. It is in the
State courts, the judges of which are generally elected, that the
shortcomings appear; and while it might be reasonable to expect that a
great State like New York or Massachusetts should have a code of laws
and an administration of justice not inferior to those of Great Britain,
it is perhaps scarcely fair to expect as much of each of the 46 States,
many of which are as yet young and thinly populated.

The chief vice of the State courts arises, of course, from the fact that
the judges are elected by a partisan vote; from which it follows almost
of necessity that there will be among them not a few who in their
official actions will be amenable to the influence of party pressure. It
is perhaps also inevitable that under such a system there will not
seldom find their way to the bench men of such inferior character that
they will be directly reachable by private bribes; though this, I
believe, seldom occurs. The State courts, however, labour under other
disadvantages.

We have seen how Congressmen are hampered in the execution of their
duties by the constant calls upon their time made by the leaders of
their party, or other influential interests, in their constituencies.
The same is true on a smaller scale of members of the State
legislatures. Congress and the legislatures of the several States alike
are moreover limited by the restrictions of written constitutions. The
British Parliament is paramount; but the United States legislatures are
always operating under fear of conflict with