all, to that inexhauſtible reſervoir of legal antiquities and learning, the feodal law, or, as Spelman[1] has entitled it, the law of nations in our weſtern orb. Theſe primary rules and fundamental principles ſhould be weighed and compared with the precepts of the law of nature, and the practice of other countries; ſhould be explained by reaſons, illuſtrated by examples, and confirmed by undoubted authorities; their hiſtory ſhould be deduced, their changes and revolutions obſerved, and it ſhould be ſhewn how far they are connected with, or have at any time been affected by, the civil tranſactions of the kingdom.
A plan of this nature, if executed with care and ability, cannot fail of adminiſtring a moſt uſeful and rational entertainment to ſtudents of all ranks and profeſſions; and yet it muſt be confeſſed that the ſtudy of the laws is not merely a matter of amuſement: for, as a very judicious writer[2] has obſerved upon a ſimilar occaſion, the learner “will be conſiderably diſappointed if he looks for entertainment without the expenſe of attention.” An attention, however, not greater than is uſually beſtowed in maſtering the rudiments of other ſciences, or ſometimes in purſuing a favorite recreation or exerciſe. And this attention is not equally neceſſary to be exerted by every ſtudent upon every occaſion. Some branches of the law, as the formal proceſs of civil ſuits, and the ſubtile diſtinctions incident to landed property, which are the moſt difficult to be thoroughly underſtood, are the leaſt worth the pains of underſtanding, except to ſuch gentlemen as intend to purſue the profeſſion. To others I may venture to apply, with a ſlight alteration, the words of ſir John Forteſcue[3],
- ↑ Of parliaments. 57.
- ↑ Dr Taylor’s pref. to Elem. of civil law.
- ↑ Tibi, princeps, neceſſe non erit myſteria legis Angliae longo diſciplinatu rimare. Sufficiet tibi,—et fatis denominari legiſta mereberis, ſi legum principia et cauſas, uſque ad elementa, diſcipuli more indagaveris.—Quare tu, princeps ſereniſſime, parvo tempore, parva induſtria, ſufficienter eris in legibus regni Angliae eruditus, dummodo ad ejus apprehenſionem tu conferas animum tuum.—Noſco namque ingenii tui perſpicacitatem, quo audacter pronuntio quod in legibus illis (licet earum peritia, qualis judicibus neceſſaria eſt, vix viginti annorum lucubrationibus acquiratur) tu doctrinum principi congruam in anno uno ſufficienter nanciſceris; nec interim militarem diſciplinam, ad quam tam ardenter anhelas, negliges; ſed ea, recreationis loco, etiam anno illo tu ad libitum perfrueris. c. 8.
