"THE LAWBREAKER"
[To the Editor of TIIE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In his interesting review of The Lawbreaker, by E. Roy Calvert and Theodora Calvert, Mr. Ensor disagrees with the author's view that the unpaid magistrates should be retained. I have myself repeatedly attacked the abuses of the present system, but after nearly thirty years' practical experience of the courts I should be sorry to see stipendiary magistrates substituted for the unpaid justices. It is important that the ordinary citizen should be concerned in the administration of justice, and it has probably never been more important than at the present day. And is it much of a recommendation for penology to say that it has become at least as much a science as economics ?
Mr. Ensor speaks of debtors committed by the County Courts as being "all such as can pay and will not." I hope he will excuse my suggesting that this may reveal "that subtle discrepancy between paper theorist and practical adminis- trator" of which he speaks. Judges, even when they have ample time, act on the evidence before them. It is significant that in 1919, when the percentage of unemployment was 2.4, the committals were 216. In 1931, with an unemployment percentage of 21.3, there were 8,398 committals.—I am,
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