Note 3 — Chapter XI · THE LAW A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE

It may, perhaps, be thought that the disuse of trial by jury would be liable to perpetuate a somewhat glaring abuse of our present jurisprudence—the disproportionately severe repression of offences against property as compared with the disproportionately light repression of offences against the person. But the mere fact that the “unlearned” bench is conspicuously inept in this particular is no reason for thinking that “learned” courts would be so: and meantime, as judges, like other men, are children of their epoch, we may suppose that the increased mildness of the new age will be reflected here as elsewhere, and that extenuating circumstances will be allowed more weight in determining a sentence for larceny, and less weight in determining a sentence for assault. ↑