We see in the following incident how men who break law forfeit the
right to secure the protection of the law:
A man in the preventive service on the south coast told this
history to Mrs. Norton, the authoress. He said he had once
been a smuggler. Desiring to reform he went to his smuggling
companions and demanded his share (one-third) of the boat, as he
wanted to leave the partnership. They refused, and laughed at
his demand; tho he offered to refer the claim to an arbitrator,
they only laughed the more. This exasperated him; so he went
out one night and sawed off a third of the boat. This did him
no good, but the expense to his companions would be more than
his share if they had peaceably given it to him. Mrs. Norton
made some comments on this method of redress, to which the man
rejoined: “Yes, marm, but you see they darn’t nor I darn’t
complain at law, ’cos it was a smuggling craft; and that’s how
it would always be, if there was no law, a man wud try and right
hisself, and if he couldn’t, he’d revenge hisself. That just
it.” (Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and
Lawyers.”
(1771)