The 1870's were a much simpler time..............

Here's another tale I missed while securing my history degree:

Trist, a hard bargainer, refused to pay the contingency fee he had agreed. The case went to the Supreme Court, which dismissed Child’s claim. A contract to lobby government, it said, was contrary to public policy and hence, like an agreement to sell sex, unenforceable in the courts. Paid lobbying, said Mr Justice Swayne, was “pernicious in its character”. But this was only the beginning of his denunciation. “If any of the great corporations of the country were to hire adventurers to procure the passage of a general law with a view to the promotion of their private interests,” he thundered, right-minded men “would instinctively denounce the employer and employed as steeped in corruption and the employment as infamous”.

The above passage is courtesy of John Kay, who notes the difference between then and now.

For the curious, more on Trist v Child may be found here.