the class of his readers, and admirers. The feelings with which we express our opinions on all occasions, are those of gratitude to all who have enlarged the boundaries of our science, and contributed to its philosophical illustration; and none deserves the meed of high praise more justly than chancellor Kent, in this work, as also in his decisions, which must for ever remain a monument of judicial wisdom, learning, and eloquence, without superiour in those of any country, or any age; moreover, the maxim which has guided us in this volume is Amicus Plato, Amicus Socrates, sed magis amica veritas.

(Note 19.) RAWLE ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE United STATES. An elementary acquaintance with the American Constitution cannot, with propriety, be postponed, until the student arrives at the studies designated under the Eleventh Title of this Course. We have, therefore, recommended this volume to be carefully read at this time; as it is quite sufficient to impart the required knowledge, and will also facilitate him in the various studies into which he is to enter, after completing the elementary course we have pointed out, under this and the preceding title.

This work first appeared in 1825, but has been recently considerably improved in a new edition, published in 1830.

(Note 20.) ON THE INSTITUTES OF THE Roman or Civil LAW. The student will find from the TENTH TITLE, and other parts of our course of study, that considerable attention to the Roman or Civil Law is strongly inculcated. We refer him to the Notes on that Title for our views, more at large, as to the imperative necessity of cultivating to some extent, an acquaintance with that vast collection of WRITTEN REASON which for so many centuries has influenced, in no small

degree, the political and private law of nearly all the European states; and which has infused into the municipal laws of England, and of our own country, a considerable portion of its spirit and its principles. How much our jurisprudence is indebted to that code, and how intimately it is connected with it, especially in some of its departments, cannot now be particularly dwelt on. To study, so much of the elements of that rich system of universal justice, as we at present recommend, must be proper; and we trust the student will repose with entire confidence, on this opinion, and study with care the two works now recommended. Should this be done we venture to predict that, long before he arrives at the period in which the more enlarged studies of the civil law are urged upon him, he will clearly perceive their great value, and be no way disposed to withdraw from them. All that we now, and even

in the Syllabus of the tenth Title, have pointed out to him, amounts to little more than the outlines of the Justinian law. To those who are disposed to deeper researches, we have endeavoured to indicate, in the Notes, more copious sources; but the works contained in the Syllabus of that Title, are no more than what should be thoroughly studied by every lawyer who aims at distinction, and desires to keep pace with the present enlarged and growing views on the subject of legal science.

Dr. Hallifax, in his Analysis of the Civil Law, remarks, 'Nor have I the smallest scruple to assert, that the student who confines himself to the institutions of his own country, without joining to them any acquaintance with those of Imperial Rome, will never arrive at any considerable skill in the grounds and theory of his profession: though he may attain to a certain mechanical readiness in the forms and practical parts of the law, he will not be able to comprehend

that enlarged and general idea of it, by which it is connected with the great system of universal jurisprudence; by the knowledge of which alone he will be qualified to become a master in this art, and be capable of applying it as an honourable means of subsistence for himself, and of credit to his country.'

The student ought never to forget, that if he establishes during his novitiate, a broad and deep foundation, all his future studies when at the bar, will prove comparatively easy. He who would be a thorough lawyer, must be a thorough student, through life. And this need create no despondency, as it is a benignant law of our nature, that the appetite for knowledge, and the capacity to acquire it, increase with our years, if we are in the enjoyment of health, and have toiled, when young, in the acquisition of all requisite preliminary learning.

In regard to the Civil Law, and those analogous studies which come under the head of what has been aptly called, comparative and universal jurisprudence, we take occasion briefly to remark, how greatly it is to be regretted, that the legal literature of England has, at no period, and on no subject, (with a very few exceptions,) taken an extended range beyond the distinct limits of her own municipal jurisprudence. Nearly every topic in the wide dominion of knowledge, has been marked in that distinguished country, by more research into the laboured results of other nations, than the science of law. The sources of legal knowledge to which their ablest judges, with occasional exceptions, have been accustomed to resort, are almost wholly of English origin. The authorities relied on in her courts of justice; those to which her legal writers appeal; and those to which her statesmen and legislators repair, have for centuries past been altogether too domestic, considering that the early foundations of her

jurisprudence were, undeniably, laid on the basis of Roman, Saxon, Feudal, and other laws. It is true, indeed, that Bracton, Britton, Fleta, Cowell, and many of the early legal writers, perceiving this fact, have made copious drafts on the fountains of Roman law: and the judges also, have, from time to time, incorporated into the English law various principles of the Roman code. Still, during a long period, and until very recently, the striking characteristic has been rather that of hostility, than of enlightened partiality for philosophical researches into the legal science of other nations.

Lord Coke, indeed, on several occasions seems to make a merit of this fact. In speaking of the opinions of the judges, in Calvin's great case, he observes, 'Also in their arguments of this cause concerning an alien, they told no strange histories, cited no foreign laws, produced no alien precedents, and that for two causes: the one, for that the laws of England are so copious in this point, as, God willing, by the report of this case shall appear; the other, lest their arguments concerning an alien born should become foreign, strange, and an alien to the state of the question, which being questio juris concerning freehold and inheritance in England, is only to be decided by the laws of this realm." To the same effect is his doctrine in the Second Institute, page 68. This is surely a very narrow view of the subject, as, though such cases need not be absolutely decided by an appeal to foreign laws, they surely may be illustrated, arguendo, by them.

It is pleasing to observe, however, a manifest change, in this respect, gradually taking place in England; and more so, that no such hostile feeling has been ever visible in this country. Bright examples of deep research into the legal science of the eternal city, and the jurisprudence of all

*7 Coke, page 7.

nations, might easily be stated; but the examples of Story, Kent, Livermore, Duponceau, and several others of our countrymen might be mentioned to students, as conclusively authoritative on the subject of this note.

As there will be occasion to resume these topics, in future pages, the student will be content to read with great attention, the two elementary works on Roman law, now recommended, without further argument as to their utility to an American lawyer.

(Note 21.) SCHOMBERG'S ELEMENTS OF THE ROMAN LAW. This little volume, the production of Alexander C. Schomberg, M. A. Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, was published in 1785; and is divided into two parts. The first division contains an historical and chronological view of the Roman law; and the second is composed of a series of notes and illustrations, which add greatly to the value of the work.

(Note 22.) JUSTINIAN'S INSTITUTES.-The legislative labours of the emperor Justinian have gained him a crown of imperishable fame. The Code, the Digest, and the Novels, would have been incomplete as a body of law without the Institutes, in which are orderly displayed the elementary or general principles of the Corpus Juris Civilis. Introductory to every code, the maxims and general rules of the entire science should be treated of: such an institutionary work may then be considered as a general index, which unfolds the science or philosophy of the whole system, and as a comprehensive outline or contour of the body of the law. In this point of view is the student to read the Institutes, which, with one

* Vide Title X, and Notes thereon. Vide also the Author's Introductory Lecture on the study of Roman Law, pp. 41. Baltimore, 1832.