ably, there
was never an equal number of people in any civilized country, of whom a
larger proportion were totally ignorant of legal forms. There were not
three in each hundred who had ever seen the inside of a courthouse, and
they were quite as few who had once looked upon a law-book! Where such
was the case, some principle of appointment was of course necessary,
other than that which required fitness, by training, for the office
conferred; and it is probable that the rule adopted was but little
different to that in force among those who have the appointing power,
where no such circumstances restrict the choice.

Men were appointed conservators of the _peace_, because they had
distinguished themselves in _war_; and he who had assumed the powers of
the law, as a regulator, was thought the better qualified to exercise
them, as a legal officer! Courage and capacity, as an Indian-fighter,
gave one the prominence requisite to his appointment; and zeal for the
preservation of order, exhibited as a self-constituted judge and
executioner, was a guaranty for the faithful performance of new and
regular duties.

Nor was the rule a bad one. A justice of the peace chosen upon this
principle, possessed two qualities indispensable to an efficient
officer, in the times of which we write--he was prompt in the discharge
of his duties, and was not afraid of responsibility. To obviate the
danger, however, which might arise from these, he had also a rigid sense
of justice, which usually guided his determinations according to the
rights of parties in interest. This, the lawyers will say, was a very
questionable trait for a judicial officer; and perhaps it _is_ better
for society, that a judge should know the law, and administer it
without reference to abstract justice, than that his own notions of
right and wrong should be taken, however conscientiously, as the
standard of judgment: for in that case, we shall, at least, have
uniformity of adjudication; whereas, nothing is more uncertain, than a
man's convictions of right.

But, in the times of which we are writing, society was not yet
definitely shaped--its elements were not bound together by the cohesive
power of any legal cement--and no better rule was, therefore, to be
expected, than the spontaneous suggestions of common sense. The minds of
men were, moreover, habituated to a certain course of thought and
action--(such as naturally obtains in a new state of society, where the
absen