I assured Mr. Ficker that the parliamentary discussions concerning them had made me very anxious to see how justice was administered in these establishments for low-priced Law. ‘I am going to one now,’ but he impressively added, ‘you must understand, that professionally I do not approve of their working. There can be no doubt that they seriously prejudice the regular course of law. Comparing the three quarters preceding with three quarters subsequent to the establishment of these Courts, there was a decrease of nearly 10,000 writs issued by the Court of Queen’s Bench alone, or of nearly 12,500 on the year.’ We soon arrived at the County Court. It is a plain, substantial-looking building, wholly without pretension, but at the same time not devoid of some little architectural elegance of exterior. We entered, by a gateway far less austere than that of Gray’s Inn, a long, well-lighted passage, on either side of which were offices connected with the Court. One of these was the Summons Office, and I observed on the wall a ‘Table of Fees,’ and as I saw Mr. Ficker consulting it with a view to his own business, I asked him his opinion of the charges. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘the scale of fees is too large for the client and too small for the lawyer. But suitors object less to the amount than to the intricacies and perplexities of the Table. In some districts the expense of recovering a sum of money is one-third more than it is in others; though in both the same scale of fees is in operation. This arises from the variety of interpretations which different judges and officers put upon the charges.’ Passing out of the Summons Office, we entered a large hall, placarded with lists of trials for the ensuing week. There were more than one hundred of them set down for trial on nearly every day. ‘I am glad,’ I said, ‘to think that this is not all additional litigation. I presume these are the thousands of causes a year withdrawn from the superior Courts?’ ‘The skeletons of them,’ said Mr. Ficker, with a sigh. ‘There were some pickings out of the old processes; but I am afraid that there is nothing but the bone here.’ ‘I see here,’ said I, pointing to one of the lists, ‘a single plaintiff entered, as proceeding against six-and-twenty defendants in succession.’