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revealed by Menu some millions of years ago, there is a curious passage on the legal interest of money, and the limited rate of it in different cases, with an exception in regard to adventures at sea; an exception which the sense of mankind approves, and which commerce absolutely requires, though it was not before the reign of Charles I. that our English jurisprudence fully admitted it in respect of maritime contracts." It is likewise not unworthy of notice, that though the natives of India have been distinguished in every age for the humanity and mildness of their disposition, yet

such is the solicitude of their law-
givers to preserve the order and
tranquillity of society, that the pu-
nishments which they inflict on cri-
minals, are (agreeably to an obser-
vation of the ancients already men-
tioned) extremely rigorous. "Pu-
nishment (according to a striking
personification in the Hindoo Code)
is the magistrate; punishment is the
inspirer of terror; punishment is the
nourisher of the subjects; punish-
ment is the defender from calamity;
punishment is the guardian of those
that sleep; punishment, with a black
aspect, and a red eye, terrifies the
guilty."+

* Sir William Jones's Third Discourse, Asia. Research. p. 421.
† Code, ch. xxi. § 8.

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

ESSAYS.

Copy of a letter from John Dunning, esq. to a gentleman of the Inner Temple; containing directions to the student.

Lincoln's Inn, March 3,1779. Dear sir,

ΤΗ

HE habits of intercourse in which I have lived with your family, joined to the regard which I entertain for yourself, makes me solicitous, in compliance with your request, to give you some hints concerning the study of the law.

Our profession is generally ridiculed as being dry and uninterest. ing; but a mind anxious for the discovery of truth and information will be amply gratified for the toil, in investigating the origin and progress of a jurisprudence which has the good of the people for its basis, and the accumulated wisdom and experience of ages for its improvement. Nor is the study itself so intricate as has been imagined; more especially since the labours of some modern writers have given it a more regular and scientific form. Without in dustry, however, it is impossible to arrive at any eminence in practice; and the man who shall be bold enough to attempt excellence by abilities alone, will soon find himself foiled by many who have inferior understandings, but better attainments. On the other hand, the

most painful plodder can never arrive at celebrity by mere reading; a man calculated for success, must add to native genius an instinctive faculty in the discovery and retention of that knowledge only, which can be at once useful and productive.

I imagine that a considerable degree of learning is absolutely necessary. The elder authors frequently wrote in Latin, and the foreign jurists continue the practice to this day. Besides this, classical attainments contribute much to the refinement of the understanding, and the embellishment of the style. The utility of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, are known and felt by every one. Geometry will afford the most apposite examples of close and pointed reasoning; and geography is so very necessary in common life, that there is less credit in knowing, than dishonour in being unacquainted with it. But it is history, and more particularly that of his own country, which will occupy the attention and attract the regard of the great lawyer. A minute knowledge ofthe political revolutions and judical decisions of our predecessors, whether in the more ancient or modern æras of our government, is equally useful and interesting. This will include a narrative of all the material alterations in the Com

mon

• Afterwards Lord Ashburton, for a sketch of his character, see our 23rd. volume,

mon Law, and the reasons and exigencies on which they were found

ed.

I would always recommend a diligent attendance on the courts of justice, as by that means the practice of them (a circumstance of great moment) will be easily and naturally acquired. Besides this, a much stronger impression will be made on the mind by the statement of the case, and the pleadings of the counsel, than from a cold uninteresting detail of it in a report. But above all, a trial at bar, or a special argument, should never be neglected. As it is usual on these occasions to take notes, a knowledge of shorthand will give such facility to your labours, as to enable you to follow the most rapid speaker with cer tainty and precision. Commonplace books are convenient and useful; and, as they are generally lettered, a reference may be had to them in a moment. It is usual to acquire some insight into real business under an eminent special pleader previous to actual practice at the bar: this idea I beg leave strongly to second, and indeed I have known but a few great men who have not possessed this advantage, I here subjoin a list of books necessary for your perusal and instruction, to which I have added some remarks; and wishing that you may add to a successful practice, that integrity which can alone make you worthy of it,

Í remain, &c. &c.

JOHN DUNNING.

Read Hume's History of England, particularly observing the rise, progress, and declension of the feudal system. Minutely attend to the Saxon government that preceded

it, and dwell on the reigns of Edward 1.-Henry VI.-Henry VII. Henry VIII.-James I.-Charles I. Charles II. and James II.

Blackstone. On the second reading turn to the references.

Mr. Justice Wright's learned Treatise on Tenures.

Coke Littleton, especially every word of Fee-Simple, Fee-Tail, and Tenant in Tail.

Coke's Institutes; more particularly the Ist and IId; and Serjeant Hawkins's Compendium.

Coke's Report's.--Plowden's Commentary.-Bacon's Abridgement; and First Principles of Equity.-Pigott on Fines.-Reports of Croke, Burrow, Raymond, Saunders, Strange, and Peere Williams. -Paley's Maxims-Lord Bacon's Elements of the Common Law.

Course of study in law, recommended by lord Mansfield to Mr. Drummond, 1774.

OR general ethics, which are

the foundation of all law, read Xenophon's Memorabilia, Tully's Offices, and Woolaston's Religion of Nature. You may likewise look into Aristotle's Ethics, which you will not like; but it is one of those books, quid limine salutandi sunt ne verba nobis dentur.

For the law of nations, which is partly founded on the law of nature, and partly positive, read Grotius, and Puffendorfin Barbeyrac's translation, and Burlamaqui's Droit Naturel: as these authors treat the same subject in the heads, they may be read together and compared.

When you have laid this foundation, it will be time to look into

those,

You

those systems of positive law that have prevailed in their turn. will begin of course with the Roman Law; for the history of which read Gravina's elegant work De Ortu et Progressu Juris Civilis; then read and study Justinian's Institutes, without any other comment than the short one by Vinnius. Long comments would only confound you, and make your head spin round. Dip occasionally into the Pandects. After this, it will be proper to acquire a general idea of feudal law and the feudal system, which is so interwoven with almost every constitution in Europe, that without some knowledge of it, it is impossible to understand modern history. Read Craig De Feudis, an admirable book for matter and method; and dip occasionally into the Corpus Juris Feudalis, while you are reading Giannone's History of Naples, one of the ablest and most instructive books that ever was written. These writers are not sufficient to give you a thorough knowledge of the subjects they treat of; but they will give you general notions, general leading principles, and lay the best foundation that can be laid for the study of any municipal law, such as the law of Eng. land, Scotland, France, &c. &c.

Thoughts on the late revolution in France, and on the free constitution of England; from the second volume of" Mitford's History of Greece," just published.

LUTARCH relates of Alcibiades, that when, on his recal from Sicily, he avoided returning to Athens, being asked, 'If he could not trust his country?' he replied

Yes,; for every thing else; but in a trial for life, not my mother; lest by mistake she should put a black ball for a white one." Whatever authority there may have been for this anecdote, it contains a very just reproof of the Athenian mode of giving judgment on life and death, by a secret ballot; which, without preventing corruption, excludes responsibility and covers shame.

But while, under the security o our own admirable constitution, we wonder at the defective polity of a people whom we find so many causes to admire, it is not a little advantageous for the writer of Grecian history, that circumstances have been occurring, in a nation calling itself the most polished of the most polished age of the world, which render all the atrocious, and before scarcely credible, violences of faction among the Greeks, not only probable, but almost make them appear moderate. At the same time it may not be digressing improperly to remark, that as what has been passing in France may tend to illustrate Grecian history, and to exculpate the Grecian character from any innate atrocity, beyond what is common among other nations, there occurs also in Grecian history what may enable to form a juster estimate of the French character, than a view ofthe late enormities, compared only with what has at any time passed in our own country, might lead us to conceive; and ifthe inability of wise andworthy men, such as undoubtedly must exist in France, to hold their just influence among the people, and prevent those disgraceful proceedings, appears itselfa disgrace both to themselves and to the nation, Grecian history and the extant writings of the ablest Grecian politi

cians, will perhaps furnish their fairest apology.

For, of so many men of the brightest talents and highest acquirements, as in Greece, turned their thoughts, with the closest attention, to a subject so universally and deeply interesting, not one seems to have been able even to imaginea form of government which might in a great nation reconcile the jarring pretensions arising from that variety of rank among men, without which even small societies cannot subsist. Our own writers, through mere familiarity with the object, as foreigners from unacquaintance with it, have very much overlooked what, in importance, is perhaps not inferior to any one circumstance in the singular constitution of our government. It is not till since the troubles in France began, that a refugee who has been in situations enabling him to see, and compelling him to observe, has discovered what, but for those troubles, would, perhaps never have occurred to his notice, that, nowhere else in the world such harmony subsists between the several ranks of citizens as in England.'*

This harmony is indeed the foundation, the firm foundation, on which the proud superstructure of the British constitution rests. Ranks vary as much, or perhaps more than elsewhere. But no one rank has that gigantic pre-eminence which can enable it to trample upon its next inferior. In the scale of subordination, the distance from top to bottom is great; but the gradation is scarcely perceptible, and the connection intimate. Each rank is in

terested in the support of its next superior; for none are excluded from the hope of rising; and, of all the various ranks, the highest is most interested in the support of all. We cannot consider without wonder, that an order of things, apparently the most natural, never subsisted in any country but our own.

It has not always perhaps been duly recollected by speculative politicians, that among the ancient republics no such order of citizens existed as that which in Paris lately assumed despotic power, and, while the representatives of the nation were deliberating on the rights of man, trampled under foot all rights. The functions of that order of citizens were, in Athens, performed by slaves; and without keeping this circumstance constantly in mind, we cannot but be liable to the grossest error in applying the rules of ancient policy to modern times. Those writers who would infer, that formerly the lower ranks of people in England were not free, because the lowest ranks were actually slaves, attempt a fallacy upon their readers. In treating of Athens, Lacedæmon, or Rome, they would have distinguished, as they ought to do, slaves from citizens. It is tionable,that, from the Anglo-Saxon conquest downward, the constitution of this country has been always free; and though, in unsettled times, and especially under the first Norman kings, law might be overborne by the violence of accidental power, yet both the law, and the established mode of administering the law, never were otherwise than

Lettre au Roi, par M. de Calonne.

unques.

highly

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