SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, ONE OF THE JUSTICES OF HIS MAJESTY'S COURT OF COMMON PLEAS. TOGETHER WITH A COPIOUS ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENTS, AND NOTES WITH REFERENCES TO ENGLISH AND AMERICAN DECISIONS AND STATUTES WHICH FULL TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS, AND SOME CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE STUDY OF THE LAW. BY THOMAS M. COOLEY. FOURTH EDITION BY JAMES DEWITT ANDREWS VOLUME I. CONTAINING BOOKS I AND II. CHICAGO CALLAGHAN AND COMPANY. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy BY CALLAGHAN & COCKROFT, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-two. In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three. In the office or the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 199507 STATE JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY, PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, MADISON, WIS. 1 TO THE ALUMNI OF THE LAW DEPARTMENT OF MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY THIS EDITION OF A WORK WHOSE CAREFUL AND FREQUENT PERUSAL CANNOT FAIL TO STRENGTHEN THEIR LOVE OF THE LAW AS A SCIENCE, AND TO STIMULATE A GENEROUS AMBITION FOR PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS, IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE STUDY OF THE LAW. BX THE EDITOR The Commentaries of Mr. Justice Blackstone have now for more than a centnury been the wonder and delight of persons whose curiosity or interest has led them to investigate the constitution and laws of Great Britain, the condition of things from which they grew, and the reasons upon which they rest. Lapse of time does not seem to diminish the attractions, or to lessen materially the practical value of these Commentaries. Large as is the proportion of the rules and usages here defined and described which has been modified by statute, or has become obsolete in the changes in habits and modes of thought among the people, the best book in which to take a comprehensive view of the rudiments of English and American law is still the work now before us of this eminent jurist. It is true that of late many short and easy highways to a knowledge of the law have been planned by different writers, along which the student may saunter with little hard labor and less hard thought, arriving at his goal at last with a vague impression of having surveyed a vast field of curious learning, replete with contradiction and paradox, where confusion rather than reason reigned; but the thoughtful student, intent upon acquiring knowledge, and ambitious to fit himself for the practical duties of life, and for the stations to which the partiality or discernment of his fellows may summon him, has shunned these deceptive ways, and with the aid of vigorous thinkers, like the author before us, has delighted to trace the plain law running through the apparent confusion, and to discover and contemplate the sound reasons out of which rules apparently arbitrary have sprung. Such minds soon perceive that the field of legal knowledge is too vast and diversified to be understood from a superficial survey of its principal objects and features, and that it must be carefully explored through all its mazes and intricacies, and with the aid of the men who, having studied the law with an intimate knowledge of the habits and customs of the people over whom it was established, were prepared to say why this rule was prescribed, and how and under what circumstances that custom sprung up. And so it happen, that while year by year hundreds of superficial workers are preparing themselves to glean in the fields of legal controversy, the true laborers in that field, the men who are to reap its substantial harvests, and to bear away its tempting prizes, do not spare themelves the labor of acquiring an intimate acquaintance with the work of this great jurist, nor fail to explore the abundant stores of legal learning to which he gives us such agreeable introduction. Nor, although there are many things in Blackstone which have ceased to be important in the practical administration of the law, can we with prudence or propriety omit to make ourselves acquainted with them. Things which are abolished or obsolete, may, nevertheless, have furnished the reasons for the things which remain: and to study rules while ignoring their reasons would be like studying the animal anatomy while ignoring the principle of |