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of the present day. Even styles of architecture arO evolved
by successful innovation--that is, cxperilnont followed by
imitation, and this was never more appnront than in thc imitotion
which has followed upon Sir Joseph Paxton’u grand
experiment at tho Exhibition of 1851 .*
Now, my contention is, that legislators ought, in many
branches of legislation, to adopt’ confessedly this tontntivo
procedure, which is the very method of socinl growth. Parliamcnt
must give up the pretension that it cnu enact the crcntion
of cert,ain social institutions to be; carried on as specified in
the ‘( hcrciunftor contained” clnuses. No doubt, by aid of 511
elaborate xnaclhery of adnlinistmtion :~nd n powcrful body of
pcJicc, Gorernrne~~t call, to a certain extent, gnidc, or tLt SLUY
rete restrain, the conduct of its subjects. Ewu in this respect
its powers are wry linlited, and a law w11ich dews not co~nn11111d
the consent of tilc body of tho pcopIc must SOOII be
repcalod or bc~comc 1rloperative. But as rtlgwds tho crcat,ion
of institutiolls, Purliamcnt is almost, powverlcss, except by
cousulting tho nee& of the time, and offering facilities €or
such institutions to grow up ILS cxpcriencc shows to be YUCcessful.
But an unfortunate confusion of idcw exists ; and it
seenls to Le suppud that bccausc, for wnsons of obvious convenicncc,
the civil and criminal lnws UP, as a general rulc, made
uniform for the wl~ole kingdom, thcrcforc thc Icgjslat~vc action
of Parliament must almu~s be uniform nud definitive. IVhcn
nn irnportnnt change is udvocatod, for instanc~, in tho Licerlsing
Laws, 1’arli:lment collccts abundant infor~n:iti(~n, which is
nsunlly inc~~~~cl~~~i~~e,
and tl~cn proceeds to effect a11 over tho
kingdom some very costly and irrevocable change ; n change
whicll generally clisnppoiuts its own advocates. Tskc tho case
of the Sale of Beer Act of 1830, pnemlly known as tho Beershop
Act. This is a salient examplo of bad lcgishtion. Yet
it was passed by the almost unanimous wisdom of Parliament,
the division in the House of Commons on the second reading
* I do not remember to have seen the importanco of this imitative
tendency in social affairs described by any miter, except the French
Engineer and Economist, Dnpuit, who fully describes it in one of hie
remarkable memoirs, printed in the Annales des Pontv et ChauesCes.”