We must be VERY careful in speculating about lawsuits. Our litigious nature has waxed and waned many times over the centuries. However we file far more lwasuits per capita now than ever before. The reasons are quite simple and readily understandable to genealogists. A) we now have insurance companies backing literally every person and activity, hence we are not nearly as outraged now by being sued as we were in all earlier times; B) the churches, especially in the South, through the "processioning" processes and handling of the poor solved a VERY large percentage of land boundary and relief disputes; C) we have a vast body of tax and commerce law (because of the existence now of banks and lending institutions, particularly in reposessions and commercial paper, those increasing litigation many times over; D) we now have social security and other workers' compensation provisions that render suing the "government" easy and seemingly harmlessly; and finally, we are not nearly as dependant upon the good will of our neighbors and our communities for our day-to-day happiness and content, and so are more likely to care not a whit about WHO we sue. Having been one for 40 years, I would rather not speak to the inclinations and dispositions of our lawyers :) :) LOL Paul