. Legislative regulation of railway finance in England . d guilty and might be sent to fauil unless they could provetheir ignorance of the falsity. Hot were railv/ay officers everto be allowed the ordinary privilege of trial by jury like otherEnglishmen, but -chey must prove tiieir ignorance to the satisfactionof the court trying the case. It was urged that this system wasliable to be attended with great oppression, to say notning of theviolation of all established customs. The judges, in spite oftheir ability and the respect oar the people for them, were notimmune from errors. In occasional i
. Legislative regulation of railway finance in England . d guilty and might be sent to fauil unless they could provetheir ignorance of the falsity. Hot were railv/ay officers everto be allowed the ordinary privilege of trial by jury like otherEnglishmen, but -chey must prove tiieir ignorance to the satisfactionof the court trying the case. It was urged that this system wasliable to be attended with great oppression, to say notning of theviolation of all established customs. The judges, in spite oftheir ability and the respect oar the people for them, were notimmune from errors. In occasional instances, they might also havea grudge against railway officials. It would be necessary, it wascontended, to appoint railway officers who knew nothing of theaccounts so that they might be able to prove their ignorance andcould sign the required documents without danger of being im-prisoned or fined. If these disgraceful penalties were to beattached to the ordinary performance of the duties of a railway1. Hansard, vol. 192,pp. 6-7 and vol. 190, p. officer, it would, becomo impossible to find any respectable people to perform such duties. The Economist also severely questioned the practicability of the provision, not only because the provision was contrary to the ordinary practice of law but because it was illusory. It called attention to the fact that particular falsities were as likely to creep into accounts by neglect as by wilful perversion. Therefore it believed that the clause, as it stood, instead of doing any good to insure true accounts would offer a premium on 1 being neglectful and ignorant. Ultimately, the heated discussion resulted in the amend- 2 ment of the penalty clause so as to read:- If any statementment, balance sheet, estimate, or reportwhich is required by this act be false in any particular to theknowledge of the auditor or officer of the company who signsthe same for the company, such officer or auditor shall be liableupon conviction thereof on indi
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