PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

394 Of the .. If.dn!iI1i!tl eation oj J Ujticc.
nature of the thing, is the ctloice tllat is made of tIle
I House of [·ords 1 as a court cf appeal from every civil
i court of judicature in the kingdom; and the iast also
I,and highest appeal, to which the subject can resort.
rfhere appears to be notllillg in the con~titution of
that assembly; in the ed ucarion, habits, character, or
professions of the members who compose it; in the
, mode of their appointment, or the right by which
they succeed to their places in it, that should qualify
thenl for this arduous office; except, perhaps, tha~ the
elevation of their rank and fortune affords a security
against the offer and influence of small bribes. Officers
of the army and navy. courtiers, ecclesiastics; young
men who have just attained the age of twenty-one,
and who have passed their youth in the dissipation
and pursuits which cOlnmonly accompany the possessinn
or inheritance of great fortunes; country gentlemen
occnpie{i ill tge management of their estates, or
in the care of their domestic concerns and familv inter-
J
ests; the greater part of the assembly born to their station,
that is, placed in it by chance; most of the re~t advanced
to the peerage, for services, and from motives
utterly unconnected with legal erudition-the~e men
cOJIlPose the tribunal, to which the C011stitution intrusts
the interpretation of her laws, and the ultimate
decision of every dispute between her subjects­
'J-hese are the men assigned to review judgments of
law, pronounced by sages of the profession, who have
spent their lives in the study and practice of the jurisprudeJICe
of their COllntry. Such is the order
~,;Y·hich our ancestors have established.
rl'he effect only
prcves the truth of this maxim, "that \vhen a ~ingie
institution is extremely dissonant from other parts of
the system to which it belongs, it will always find
some way of reconciling itself to the analogy which
governs and pervades the -rest." By constantly pIa ..
cing in the house of lords some of the most eminent
and experienced lawyers in the kingdom; by calling to
their aid the advice of the judges, when any abstract
question of law awaits their determination; by the al.
most implicit and undisputed dcferer ,.::e, which the
uninformed part of the house find it necessary to pay