ranks of our profession, a long and melancholy train of men once hopeful, perhaps gifted; but the true lawyer is pure in life, courteous to his associates, faithful to his clients, just to all; and the student must keep this true ideal before him, observe temperance, be master of his actions, and seek in all things the approval of his own conscience, if he would attain the highest possible benefit from the STUDY OF THE LAW. The main purpose in giving to the public a new edition of the Commentaries of Blackstone, was to present the changes in the law which had taken place since the last preceding edition appeared, that the reader, while informing himself concerning the law of England of a century since, might not be misled in respect to its present condition. With this object before him, while avoiding the detail which might be useful to the English practitioner, but which would merely cumber the pages for American use, the editor has sought to indicate the statutory changes sufficiently to give a general idea of the advancement made in the English law since our commentator's time, and also to enable the American student to compare the law of his own country with the system from which it was derived, as modified by the experience of another land enjoying free institutions under circumstances and with a state of society considerably differing from our own. How far it was desirable to preserve the notes to the previous English editions, or to add thereto, was a question not easy of proper solution. The editor is fully aware that in some previous editions the proper province of an editor was exceeded, and that the additions made, instead of being suitable notes to the text, were in the nature of digests of the law upon very many of the questions which the text had discussed or alluded to. This was especially the case with the edition of that voluminous and industrious writer, Mr. Chitty, some of whose notes are a mine of information, almost making the work a library in itself, and which, nevertheless, were not more peculiarly appropriate to these Commentaries than they would have been to any other legal treatise which made general reference to the same subject-matter. Some of these notes, moreover, have wholly, or in part, become obsolete, and others related to branches of the law, or to questions, with which the lawyer in America has no occasion to deal. The editor was of opinion, however, that there was too much in Mr. Chitty's annotations of substantial and permanent value to warrant their being entirely discarded, and that while the student, or the gentleman who reads only for general or political information, may have little occasion to employ himself with them, the practicing lawyer, who shall make use of the work, will be gratified to find so much retained that is convenient and useful in his practice. But whatever has become obsolete, whatever, like most of the notes upon the law of tithes and of copyholds, is unimportant in America, has been cut away with unsparing hand, that time and attention might not be uselessly occupied in exploring it. The quantity of matter thus rejected was very large, and those who have occasion to make much use of the work will be thankful to get rid of it. What is new in this edition has been added in the same spirit that has governed the selections from the English notes. As students make more use of the work than practicing lawyers, their information and benefit have been kept mainly in view, but references have been made to the judicial decisions on many practical questions, and it is hoped they will be found not without their convenience to the profession generally. The English notes which have been retained are inclosed in brackets to distinguish them from the new additions. The names of their authors are given in some cases where individual opinions are expressed, but generally it has not been thought important to distinguish their sources, and in some cases where editors have combined with their own the labors of their predecessors, it would have been difficult to do so. The analysis given of the contents is a considerable enlargement of that of Baron Field, and it is believed that, if judiciously used, it will answer the purpose for interrogating students better than the lists of questions sometimes given, which require the memory to be burdened equally with matter important and unimportant. The table of abbreviations embraces the legal authorities, and also other books which the reader might possibly desire to refer to, and which are not sufficiently described or indicated by the context. ANN ARBOR, Sept., 1870. THOMAS M. COOLEY. A new edition of this work having become necessary, the editor has made some changes and additions, but not such as will call for special notice here. They consist in the main of references to new cases, though some new notes have been added which may prove of practical value. ANN ARBOR, Jan., 1872. Vol. I.-5. T. M. COOLEY. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. THE following sheets contain the substance of a course of lectures on the Laws of England, which were read by the author in the university of OXFORD. His original plan took its rise in the year 1753; and, notwithstanding the novelty of such an attempt in this age and country, and the prejudices usually conceived against any innovations in the established mode of education, he had the satisfaction to find, and he acknowledges it with a mixture of pride and gratitude, that his endeavours were encouraged and patronised by those, both in the university and out of it, whose good opinion and esteem he was principally desirous to obtain. The death of Mr. VINER in 1756, and his ample benefaction to the university for promoting the study of the law, produced about two years afterwards a regular and public establishment of what the author had privately undertaken. The knowledge of our laws and constitution was adopted as a liberal science by general academical authority; competent endowments were decreed for the support of a lecturer, and the perpetual encouragement of students; and the compiler of the ensuing Commentaries had the honor to be elected the first Vinerian professor. In this situation he was led, both by duty and inclination, to investigate the elements of the law, and the grounds of our civil polity, with greater assiduity and attention than many have thought it necessary to do. And yet all, who of late years have attended the public administration of justice, must be sensible that a masterly acquaintance with the general spirit of laws and principles of universal jurisprudence, combined with an accurate knowledge of our own municipal constitutions, their original, reason, and history, hath given a beauty and energy to many modern judicial decisions, with which our ancestors were wholly unacquainted. If, in the pursuit of these inquiries, the author hath been able to rectify any errors which either himself or others may have heretofore imbibed, his pains will be sufficiently answered: and if in some points he is still mistaken, the candid and judicious reader will make due allowances for the difficulties of a search so new, so extensive, and so laborious. Nov 2 1765. POSTSCRIPT. NOTWITHSTANDING the diffidence expressed in the foregoing Preface, no sooner was the work completed, but many of its positions were vehemently attacked by zealots of all (even opposite) denominations, religious as well as civil; by some with a greater, by others with a less degree of acrimony. To such of these animadverters as have fallen within the author's notice (for he doubts not but some have escaped it), he owes at least this obligation: that they have occasioned him from time to time to revise his work. in respect to the particulars objected to; to retract or expunge from it what appeared to be really erroneous; to amend or supply it when inaccurate or defective; to illustrate and explain it when obscure. But, where he thought the objections ill-founded, he hath left and shall leave the book to defend itself: being fully of opinion, that, if his principles be false and his doctrines unwarrantable, no apology from himself can make them right; if founded in truth and rectitude, no censure from others can make them wrong. |