Hetley's Reports. See Am. Jurist, vol. 8. p. 267. Holt, Lord Chief Justice. Lord Holt was a man above all praise; and was assisted by able judges, one of whom was Mr. J. Powell, who fell little short of Lord Holt himself.' Per Kenyon, C. J. 7 T. R. 736. 'Lord Holt, the learned publisher of Kelynge's Reports.' Fost. Crown Law, 204. 'As great and able a judge as ever sat in the king's bench, (except Hale).' Per Lord Hardwicke, Life of Northington, 67; 2 Eden Rep. 63. Holt on Shipping. He has followed the track of Lord Tenterden, and with great credit to himself. His work is wholly free from the incumbrance of foreign language on the same subject. This omission gives the appearance of a dry practical character to the work, but the reading of it becomes quite interesting, by reason of the clearness of its analysis, the precision of its principles, the perspicuity of the style, and the manly good sense of the author.' 3 Kent Com. 250. Horseman's Precedents. "The discriminating qualities of these are clumsiness of form and coarseness of style.' Williams on the Study of the Law, 125. "The Precedents of Horseman (a gentleman of great professional reputation in his time) being still more modern, and comprising a greater variety of forms than those of either Bridgman or Lilly are, it is believed, more resorted to in practice than any other, but they possess neither the easiness nor boldness of the one, nor the neatness, nor precision of the other; there are many of them clumsy in their form and coarse in their style; they are, however, allowed to be safe, and the provisions in general are numerous and proper.' Barton's ' Elements Study of Conveyancing, vol. 1. p. 75. Hughes on Insurance. It goes over the same ground already fully and sufficiently occupied by his two eminent predecessors, Park and Marshall; and with very scanty reference to any foreign authorities, it cites all the modern English cases. It is a plain, methodical and correct treatise, and must be valuable to an English lawyer, so far as it has incorporated into the work the substance of the recent decisions not to be found in the former works. Beyond that information, the treatise is entirely superfluous.' 3 Kent Com. 351. Hughes' Abridgment. This being cited by Montague, 11 How. State Tr. 1171, in Queen v. Tutchin, Holt, C. J. exclaimed, 'A good authority indeed! Did you know him?' Montague. I did not know him but I have heard him accounted a learned man.' Humphrey on Real Property. A work equally remarkable for profound knowledge and condensed thought.' 4 Kent Com. 8. Jackson's Real Actions. These abstruse subjects are digested and handled by Judge Jackson with a research, judgment, precision and perspicuity, that reflect lustre on the profession in this country.' 4 Kent Com. 80. Jacob's Dictionary. For the more full and modern explanation of law terms read Jacob's Dictionary; but this authority must not be too implicitly relied on.' C. J. Reeve's letter. 1 Coll. Jur. 79. Jeffries, Lord Chancellor. No sentiment of integrity, no feeling of mercy ever found a place in his bosom. He had a brutal levity of conduct, strangely unbecoming the judicial character. His acquirements as a lawyer were of a mean order; and it is not dealing too harshly with him to adopt the censure of Mr. Justice Foster, and to pronounce him the very worst judge that ever disgraced Westminster Hall.' Roscoe's Lives, 134. Johnson's Reports. The bench of New York, ever since we have been able to judge of its character by the masterly reports of Mr. Johnson, has been distinguished by great learning and uncommon legal acumen.' Per Parker, C. J. Ricard v. Richardson, 17 Mass. 122. Jones, Sir William. Reporter of cases in B. R. & C. B. from 18 Jac. 1 to 15 Car. 1. In the argument in Chanley v. Wistanley, T. 44 Geo. III. when a case in Jones' Reports was questioned by counsel, as anonymous, Lawrance, J. said that Jones was not a reporter to mistake the law of a case, though he might not hear the name.' Bridg. Leg. Bib. 180. Dryden has introduced Sir William Jones in his Absalom and Achitophel. Not bull-faced Jonas, who could statutes draw To mean rebellion, and make treason law.' Jones, Sir William. His fine genius, pure taste, unwearied industry, unrivaled and almost prodigious variety of acquirements, must inspire all who love or cultivate letters with admiration and reverence.' Sir Jas. Mackintosh's Introd. Lect. 'Sir William Jones has given an ingenious and rational Essay on the Law of Bailment. He is perhaps the only lawyer equally conversant with the year books of Westminster, the Commentaries of Ulpian, the Attic pleadings of Isæus, and the sentences of Arabian and Persian cadhis.' 8 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, 88. Lord Kames. His extreme inaccuracy in what he ventures to state with respect both to the ancient Canon Law and the modern English Law, tends, not a little to shake the credit of his representations of all law whatever.' 2 Hag. Rep. 92. Per Sir W. Scott. Keble's Reports. Of questionable credit.' 1 Woods. 99 note. 'Keble's Reports only are esteemed under value.' Rog. North's Study of the Laws, p. 24. 'I think Levinz was said to be of greater note than Keble. I remember, on the other hand, making a minute of the censure passed by Lord Kenyon on Keble's Reports; and when I went home from court, I destroyed them, not considering it worth while to keep a refuse book in my library.' Per Park, J. Rex v. Sutton, 1 Leg. Ex. and Law Chron. 203. See 8 Am. Jurist, 268. Kelynge, Lord Chief Justice. publisher of Kelynge's Reports.' Lord Holt was the learned Foster's Cr. Law, 204. 'That corrupt tool, Chief Justice Kelynge.' Hallam's Mid. Ages, cap. 8. pt. 3. vol. 2. p. 222. Who Sir John Kelynge was, will appear from a reference to the 4th vol. Hatsell's Precedents. We find in that book upon complaint being made of innovations in the right of trial by jury, that a committee was appointed to investigate the conduct of C. J. Kelynge.' Hon. John Randolph in his argument against Judge Chase-Trial 258. The above opinion by John Randolph was controverted by Harper, (Chase's Trial, 267) who said that Kelynge was honorably acquitted on the charge brought against him, and that his decisions were cited as law, Hale and Hawkins, &c. Kent's Commentaries. 'That recent work, which does its author so much honor and the public so much good.' Blake v. Williams, 6 Pick. 310. Per Parker, C. J. King, Lord. In Earl of Buckinghamshire v. Drury, Lord Hardwicke gave a great character of Lord King.' 2 Eden Rep. 65. Laussat's Equity in Pennsylvania. By a student in the Academy of Philadelphia. Although I must differ from its main conclusions, it is a work of that learning, research, and information, as but few members of the English bar, perhaps, could have produced.' Prof. Park's Lect. on Leg. Education, 1831. "The principles of Equity in Pennsylvania have been digested from the acts of the legislature and the decisions of the Supreme Court, with diligence, ability, and judgment, in a clear and neat little code of equity law, under the unpretending title of An Essay on Equity in Pennsylvania by Anthony Laussat, Jun. Student at Law, 1826.' 4 Kent Com. 164. Laws of Women. This book seems to have experienced a neglect by no means consistent with its merit. It is the most comprehensive and, with reference to any single work, the most useful treatise on this head of the law.' Preston on Abstr. 291. Leonard's Reports. See 8 Am. Jurist, 268. These were always in high esteem.' Sugden on Pow. 22. Levinz's Reports. Levinz, though a good lawyer, is sometimes a very careless reporter.' Quoted as said by Lord Hardwicke Hoffman's Course, 359. See Keble Ante. Lilly's Precedents. The reader will not discover in these the boldness and freedom which he will have remarked in Bridgman, but they are equally and oftener more to be depended upon. Lilly appears to have been a man of judgment, and of sufficient legal knowledge, and to have possessed, moreover, the essential qualifications of care and circumspection. His Precedents have likewise the advantage of having been printed under the author's own inspection.' Barton's Elements-Study of Con. vol. 1. p. 74. 'The discriminating qualities of these are neatness and conciseness.' Williams on the Study of the Law, 125. Lilly's Practical Register or Abridgment of the Law. Mr. Justice Wright said this was a book of authority in practice. Herbert v. Williamson, 1 Wils. 324. Littleton's Tenures. This little volume has acquired more notice than almost any other book in the laws; a circumstance which is to be ascribed partly, perhaps, to the nature of the subject, partly to the manner in which it is written, and partly to the great character of the writer when a judge; for its excellence will be found to be of a peculiar kind; it does not consist in an accurate arrangement of the subject, nor a remarkably apt division of its matter, nor indeed, in a strict adherence even to the author's own plan, by preserving a close connexion between the matters and the title of a chapter, in all which Littleton is sometimes more defective than writers of inferior note; but it consists in the great depth of his learning and simplicity of his manner, in a comprehensive way of thinking and a happy method of explaining, together with a certain plainness yet significance of style, which, though seldom elegant, is always clear and expressive.' Barton's Elements - Study of Con. vol. 1 p. 17. 'The text of Littleton is accounted law, and no other book hath that authority. It was originally compiled for the initiation of a student, and is therefore the most plain and intelligible, without any sort of obscurity, and contains the fundamentals of laws, touching estates and contracts; and however fitted this book is to the capacity of a beginner, the very adepts in the law are not frequently ashamed to read it. I knew a Lord Keeper that read it every Christmas, as long as he lived. So necessary is it to retain in memory the very words of a book which is so authentic. This implies the small need this book has of a comment; for all such attempts must make more obscure that which is of itself as plain as possibly can be; and that, so titled by my Lord Coke, which by the very word comment, as supposing it carries explanation (cujus contrarium verum est) hath deceived many students to take it along with the text of Littleton; but to very bad purpose, for it disturbs and hinders the attention to the text of the book, which is that principally to be regarded and remembered.' Roger North's Study of the Laws, p. 11. 'His text has become a first rate authority, and the student who wishes to build his knowledge upon a sure foundation. |