1 and, after examining how far they were mingled, in the law of England, with a portion of the old Saxon constitutions, to pursue them through all the successive alterations which resulted from a change of men's opinions in matters of religion, government, or commerce: in this investigation the authors recommended under the second title will be the best guides. The student may theu contemplate these revolutions more nearly and critically in his consideration of the doctrine of Real and Personal Rights, and their respective Remedies, (which two titles comprehend the great body of the English common law,) and of the law which obtains in the courts of Equity; which last, together with the Lex Mercatoria, and the Law of Crimes and Punishments, are only great branches or divisions of the general law of England. Next succeeds the Law of Nations, followed by the Maritime and Admiralty Law, which is connected with the National Law on the one hand, and with the next title, the Roman Civil Law, (from which it draws most of its principles and procedures, and which consequently becomes of importance to the English lawyer,) on the other. Thus, master of English jurisprudence, the student may proceed to inquire in what points it is altered or modified in the Contitution and Laws of the United States, or in those of the respective States, particularly his own; and having fortified his mind with the principles of political economy, and borne these with him in his review of the natural and political resources of his own country, (a study essential in a nation where the lawyer and politician are so frequently combined,) should close his studious career with some attention to rhetoric and oratory. Notwithstanding the seemingly great extent of this course, (and certainly we cannot flatter the student with the hope of mastering it with the degree and kind of attention which is usually bestowed on it,) let him not be discouraged. What necessarily proves difficult to the desultory and immethodical reader, who comes to his books in the intervals of idleness or dissipation only, and resumes with reluctance what is willingly abandoned on the first call of pleasure, or the first apology for relaxation, may, by a temporary exertion of method and attention, be converted first into a habit, and eventually into a pleasure. Study and research are not without their attractions; the mere exertion of mind is productive of pleasure, when the difficulties are not conceived too formidable, or too numerous, and the student does not advance to the investigation, hopeless of success, or unfurnished with the means, and ignorant of the sources of information. In short we conceive, that to an intellect of ordinary capacity, the Law, instead of that guise of difficulty and perplexity in which it for the most part appears, would Vol. VI. No. 1. 9 assume no small degree of interest, and offer no inconsiderable gratification, were the student initiated, so to speak, in its geography; were he instructed in the nice connexions and dependencies which unite its many minute divisions, and conduct him naturally and easily from one topic to another, instead of being set down in the first instance in the midst of difficulties of which he has had no previous explanation, and of which he knows not whither to apply for a solution. These minute connexions, this natural order and arrangement, it was the aim of the author (in which he hopes to have succeeded in some imperfect degree,) to exhibit in the following pages. p. xiv-xviii. In a subsequent part of the preface Mr. Hoffman has given some very useful hints on the study of law, which should be treasured up by every student in perpetuam rei memoriam. • At the same time there is nothing which we more earnestly inculcate on every tyro in law, than to observe scrupulously the hours which he has allotted to the study of his professiou. Whatever may be the temptations of other and more pleasing literary pursuits, or whatever the allurements of idleness or pleasure, this should be a permanent object, from which his attention should never be long diverted. In all studious enterprises, (if we may be allowed the phrase,) he will be found to proceed on a very crroneous plan, who thinks to make the extraordinary efforts of to-morrow supply the deficiencies of to-day. The mind which contemplates with pleasure a short exertion of its powers, which, though it must be regularly made, will, it knows, be regularly relieved by the period for relaxation or for rest, is apt to shrink from the long and uninterrupted exertion which the student often imposes on himself by way of compensation for past indolence. It will, therefore, diminish his toil, as much as it will advance his progress, to allot to every day its just labour, and to perform this with all the scrupulosity which circumstances will permit. If, however, accident has deranged his plan, or idleness and dissipation have made inroads into the seasons set apart for study, we would warn him against the common mistake of neglecting to employ the fragments of time thus produced, in the expectation and design of more methodical exertion for the morrow. How much might be gained by the studious occupation of the moments thus idly and unprofitably thrown away, is incredible to those who have never calculated the days, the weeks, and months, to which they rapidly amount. He that would not experience the vain regret of misemployed days, ' must learn, therefore, to know the present value of single minutes, and endeavour to let no particle of time fall useless to the ground.' Whoever pursues a contrary plan will forever find something to break that continuity of exertion, in looking forward to which he solaces himself for his present supineness; and at the expiration of the period allotted for the completion of his legal apprenticeship, will generally find a mighty waste of time to have proceeded from the trivial value he attached to its fragments. The sedentary and the studious have, indeed, to contend with obstacles peculiar to themselves. Secluded of necessity, for the larger portion of their time, from the business and bustle of men, their ideas insensibly assume a monotonous character, and receiving little ventilation from the constant current of novelties which refresh those who are engaged in active and crowded scenes, are apt to stagnate into languor and melancholy. It is little wonderful that intellectual exertion should become irksome, when thus accompanied by despondency; and that the student should find the lapse to indolence and relaxation so easy, and the return to his solitary avocations so painful; a painfulness most generally augmented by a consciousness of the neglect of duty, which he is happy to drown in the pleasures or bustle of society, rather than brood over in the stillness of his study. Instead of attempting to remedy this tendency by total seclusion, it is better to indulge it with moderation; and to mingle business and pleasure in those proper proportions, which will equally prevent the fatigue of too much exertion, and the satiety of too much enjoyment. Hermits, whether in religion or in literature, have generally found their scheme of exclusive and solitary devotion to a single pursuit, to issue in lassitude and in indolence. But with this occasional relaxation from society; with the exact and uniform attention, and the strict economy in the occupation of time, which we have recommended; together with the facilities which we flatter ourselves will be afforded by the methodical arrangement attempted in the Course which we respectfully submit to the student; and the interest which we have endeavoured to shew may be extracted in no inconsiderable degree even from the singularities and perplexities of law; the study of this important and useful profession, instead of a revolting task, will be found an interesting employment, with which to fill up those portions of life, which he, who knows his own happiness, will be sedulous to devote to business, in order to the more exquisite enjoyment of the remainder. p. xxiv-xxvii. ppiness, The general course of study proposed by Mr. Hoffman, is summed up in the following general syllabus I. Moral and Political Philosophy. II. The Elementary and Constitutional Principles of the Municipal Law of England; and herein, 1st. Of the Feudal Law. 2d. The Institutes of the Municipal Law generally. 3d. Of the Origin and Progress of the Common Law. ، III. The Law of Real Rights and Real Remedies. ، IV, The Law of Personal Rights and Personal Remedies. V. The Law of Equity. VI. The Lex Mercatoria. ، VII. The Law of Crimes and Punishments. VIII. The Law of Nations. ، IX. The Maritime and Admiralty Law. X. The Civil or Roman Law. XI. The Constitution and Laws of the United States of America. ، XII. The Constitution and Laws of the several States of the Union. • XIII. Political Economy.' p. 32. This is followed by a particular syllabus under every title of the general syllabus, in which are collected the best works on every successive subject belonging to the heads under which they are arranged. Connected with these heads is a series of notes or perpetual commentary upon the character and relative value of the authors, whose works are cited, or the history and relative importance of the topics, which they discuss, interspersed with many judicious observations of a more general nature, which exhibit to great advantage the liberality, sound judgment, and juridical knowledge of the author. As a specimen of the style and spirit of the work, we subjoin the note on the reading of reports and particularly of leading cases. 1 On the Reading of Reports and particularly of Leading Cases. The source of the purest of most accurate legal information lies in the various books of reports and cases argued and determined in the different courts of judicature. To these reports the authors of abridgments and digests of the law are almost solely indebted; but as these digests purport to contain the substance of an infinitude of reported cases, we can expect from them neither fulness nor accuracy of information. These digests and elementary works, therefore, are to be considered merely in the light of well arranged note-books; and are to be read rather for the clearness of their definitions, and the methodical and luminous exposition of principles, than for plenitude, cer tainty, and precision of knowledge. Those who are in the practice of frequently referring to reports, have occasion to remark 1 how often the authorities advanced by legal writers are extended or contracted by them, either from negligence, misapprehension, or in support of their particular doctrines. They find other cases irrelative to the propositions, in aid of which they are cited, and not unfrequently, precisely the reverse: hence the necessity of sometimes unlearning what has been acquired in these digests and rudimental works, by a critical and minute scrutiny into the books of reports. Students thus employed in precisely defining their knowledge and correcting their mistaken views, derived from the errours of law-writers, their generality of expression, or the vague manner in which cases are often stated by them, finally arrive at the useful conclusion, that abridgments are to be regarded with a suspicion of their accuracy; and that the writer who abridges least is most to be relied on; hence Viner, as the repository of certain and ample information, is of all others, except the books of reports, the safest for reference. As the books of reports contain the law in the precise phraseology in which it was administered by the judges, they necessarily furnish the most satisfactory and accurate information on expository jurisprudence; and as the arguments of counsel, and frequently of the court, present all the motives or reasons why a point should, or should not, be established as law, these books likewise contain a rich and abundant fund for censorial jurisprudence. The decisions of courts are seldom mere naked judgments or opinions on points drawn from the arguments of counsel; but are more frequently lucid, ample, and learned investigations of the previous authorities on the subject; with a chronological and minute examination of each, and a clear exposition of the very reasons upon which the judgment is predicated. But, in the digests and abridgments, the student cannot expect to find the arguments for or against, or that close chain of reason and authority, by which the rules of law, or the principles stated in them, were originally decided. These are, with us, sufficiently weighty reasons for strongly urging the student frequently to refer to the reports. But as indiscriminate reference would lead to boundless research, and absurd waste of time, we submit for his guidance the following rules. 1. Where the point in the digest, &c. is important and has been or continues to be a questio vexata, read with attention the case in which it was first agitated or decided, and also the case in which it was, if it has been, finally settled; and note, in both cases, the arguments of counsel, and the reasons stated by the court. It is not often that the intervening cases need be particularly examined. |