LAW,   LIBERTY   AND  JUSTICE	251
brought before a Court of Summary Jurisdiction may,, if they
are really poor* be granted by the court a Certificate of Legal Aid
which will secure the necessary services free. Similarly when
such a court commits for trial persons without means, it will
make a Defence Order which provides proper help in the higher
court. Further, a large proportion-—probably more than half—of
the divorce cases brought in the High Court come under the
Poor Persons Procedure, by which solicitors and barristers give
their services free of charge. Poverty and ignorance of procedure
can, however, be a serious handicap in the lower courts, and the
right of appeal from them is limited by its costliness and the need
to deposit money which will be forfeited if the appeal is dismissed.
In civil cases the possibility of two or three appeals between the
County Court and the House of Lords, is an actual disadvantage
to the poorer party who may find it cheaper to abandon his case
than to prolong the expense.
The mere size of lawyers* fees is one cause of the dearness
of justice, but this is only a part of the great question of the
distribution of incomes, which cannot be discussed here. In
civil cases, the length of the proceedings throughout which the
services of a lawyer must be paid for, adds to the expense. A
wealth of documentary evidence may be required for every part
of the case; either side may search for points of law with which
to hamper the other; the relevance of each piece of evidence may
give rise to long argument. The problem, therefore, is to simplify
and shorten procedure without hindering litigants in the proper
presentment of the case. Now the solution can only be found by
expert lawyers, and so vast is the body of knowledge required of
any lawyer, that it is natural for members of the profession to
think of themselves as servants of the existing law, rather than
reformers. The Common Law is incomplete; Statutes are not
always well drafted, and much of the energy of lawyers has been
used up in devising rules to make an imperfect instrument fit for
all the work it is set to perform. The rules of Equity are an
example of this ingenious constructive ability; but the existence