Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/115

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DOGHERTY. 111 tific lawyer, in which situation he devoted himself with great assiduity to acquire a knowledge of special pleading, and the law connected with that abstruse science. In this pursuit, by employing h i s leisure hours, and frequently sitting u p whole nights, h e perfectly succeeded; and such was his diligence, that i n a comparatively short time, h e accumulated a collection o f precedents, and notes, which appeared t o his employer a work o f considerable labour and ingenuity. After having been many years with Mr. Bower, b y the advice o f that gentleman, h e commenced special pleader; and i n this branch o f the profession h e soon acquired a great and merited reputation; his drafts, which were generally the work o f h i s own hand, being allowed t o b e models o f legal accuracy. They were formed ac cording t o the neat and concise system o f Mr. Bower, and his great friend and patron Sir Joseph Yates, many o f whose books, notes, and precedents, a s well a s those o f Sir Thomas Davenport, were i n the possession o f Mr. Dogherty. His intense application, however, greatly injured his health, which was visibly o n the decline for many months previous t o his decease, which took place a t his chambers i n Clifford's Inn, Sept. 29, 1805, b y which the profession was deprived o f a man o f great private worth, modest and unassuming manners, independent mind, and strict honour and probity. I n 1786, h e published the “Crown Circuit Assistant,” a work which i s found t o b e a most useful supplement t o the “Crown Circuit Companion;” a new edition o f which latter work, with considerable additions, was published b y him i n 1790. He also edited i n 1800, a new edition o f “Hale's Placitorum Coronae,” t o which h e added a n abridgment o f the statutes relating t o felonies, continued t o that date, with notes and references. His Common Place Book, formed o n a plan nearly approaching t o that of Mr. Locke, with which a t that time he was unac quainted; and his Office Books, which are still i n manu script, are said t o b e highly valuable, not merely to the student, but t o the more experienced lawyer.