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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: origin was already lost in the lapse of years, the problem would
be insoluble.
I shall quote a single example to illustrate what I advance.
The civil and criminal procedure of the Americans has only two
means of action -committal and bail. The first measure taken by
the magistrate is to exact security from the defendant, or, in
case of refusal, to incarcerate him: the ground of the accusation
and the importance of the charges against him are then discussed.
It is evident that a legislation of this kind is hostile to the
poor man, and favorable only to the rich. The poor man has not
always a security to produce, even in a civil cause; and if he is
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