A Century of English Judicature. Accordingly, he was given to reviewing a case in all conceivable aspects long after he had in fact exhausted the actual issue; and the reports are full of instances where in matters of difficulty he laboriously examined the whole volume of cases connected with
33
cal and over abundant in qualifications is all his work that one can appreciate the feelings of Horne-Tooke when he declared that he would "rather plead guilty on a sec ond trial than listen to a repetition of John Scott's argument" in prosecution. This is
SIR THOMAS PLUMER.
the topic under consideration (see 6 Vcsey 263; 14 do. 203; i Yes. & B. 59; i Rose 253: i Glyn & J. 384; 2 Swanst. 36; 2 Bligh P. C. 402). Hence his decrees and opinions are so overlaid with fine distinctions and limitations that the ratio dccidctidi is not always easy to find. At no stage of his career did he ever display any evidence of the perspicuities, much less the graces, of literary style. So inextricably parentheti-
certainly a serious defect in any judge; and if the guiding principles of Eldon's judg ments had been as clearly enunciated and in as general terms as those of Ilardwicke, the volume of his decisions, the care with which he considered them, the weight of his authority and the force of His example, would have gone far to remove the blight of uncertainty which rested upon the law of his dav.
