contents under their appropriate heads in any favourite text-book. If it be Comyn's Digest, and the hint already given respecting Harrison's Digest be acted upon, the student will be enabled easily and leisurely to keep pace with the decisions which now, truly,

"Come not single spies,

But in battalions."

SECTION III.

HOW TO ACQUIRE READINESS AND ACCURACY IN THE APPLICATION OF LEGAL PRINCIPLES.

If legal principles could be applied as easily as they are acquired, there would be an end of the greatest difficulty which is experienced in prosecuting the legal profession. "Practice makes perfect" in this respect, as in every other; and should the student not have the opportunity of seeing sufficient practice in chambers, he must make practice for himself-by imagining cases of ordinary occurrence submitted to him for an opinion. Let us suppose him, for instance, to have carefully read and reflected upon the law of self-defence, as thus stated in Blackstone.

"The first species of redress of private injuries which is obtained by the act of the party himself, is

In

the defence of one's self, or the mutual and reciprocal defence of such as stand in the relations of husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant. these cases, if the party himself, or any of these, his relations, be forcibly attacked in his person or property, it is lawful for him to repel force by force; and the breach of the peace which happens, is chargeable upon him only who began the affray *." Let him now put such simple cases to himself as the following, and endeavour to apply the above principles to them with as much precision as if his opinion were actually asked by a client.

Suppose, while a man is riding on horseback, another beats the horse, from which the rider is obliged to dismount for fear of being thrown; would he be justified in horse-whipping the offender? [See 1 Mo. 24-1 Siderfin, 433.] Or, suppose a gentleman and his wife riding on horseback on the high road, and that a man commenced violently shouting, obviously intentionally, so as to alarm the lady's horse, and cause it to rear and plunge-and persisted in doing so: would the gentleman be justified in riding him down to put a stop to his clamour?

Would a man be justified in knocking down one whom he saw in the act of aiming a blow at one of his most costly mirrors?

3 Bla. Co. 3-4.

If he were to see, at a little distance, a man threatening to strike his little sister-were to rush up and strike the man, would he be liable to an action?

If a father were to come up the instant after his child had been struck by a man, and, in the frenzy of alarm and passion, were to knock him down-would he be liable to an action?

-Thus let him go on imagining cases occurring among husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, and others-accustoming himself, in short, to the prompt application of legal principles, not only in such cases as those above instanced, but in all the little occurrences and transactions of business which might lead to litigation. Suppose, for instance, a tradesman who has undertaken to repair an umbrella by a particular day, fails to complete the repairs by that day, and his customer calls for it, just before setting off for India; can he insist on having his umbrella in its unfinished state, without paying the tradesman any thing

-or can the latter insist upon being paid for the little that he has actually done *? Or suppose a man were to give another a cheque on his banker, which was not presented in time, would the banker be justified in paying it? Or suppose a banker were to pay a bill before it is due?-A fertile fancy can never be at a loss for such means as these of exercising the mind in

See Sinclair v. Bowles, 9 B. and C. 92.

the application of legal principles, and thus preparing it for the ready and skilful discharge of actual business. Thus may one student, either when at chambers, or even while walking, whether alone, or in company with "like-minded friends,"-find

"Books in the running brooks,

Cases in stones, and-law in everything !"

Another expedient may be mentioned, easier, but not less useful, than the foregoing. Let the student, after having carefully mastered the details of a particular case in the Reports, frame variations of particular circumstances, and consider what would have been their effect. Let him imagine himself conducting such a case, when it took an unexpected turn-would that turn have been of consequence or not? Introducesuppress-vary particular facts; will it signify? Suppose the woman had married, at a particular moment -or a man become bankrupt in the midst of certain transactions-or one of several partners had retired or become insolvent-that a certain document had been missing-or a sentence omitted, or changed, &c.— what would have been the precise situation of the parties?

Take for instance, the case of Carvalho v. Burn, 4 B. Adol. 382. A, who resided at Liverpool, was in the habit of making consignments of goods to B, his agent in South America, for sale; on the faith of, and against which consignments, A drew bills proportioned to their amount, to be paid by the agent out of the

proceeds and the bills were negociated by the indorsements of C, A's correspondent in London. Some of the bills so indorsed were refused acceptance by the agent. C, on receiving information that they had been so dishonoured, requested that A would order his agent, in case he did not pay his (A's) drafts, immediately to hand over to C's agent, such property as he had of A's, of an equivalent value to the bills that should not be paid by him; and A agreed to do so. Thus far all is plain sailing. Let the student, now, imagine the death, or bankruptcy, of A, B, or C, either before or after the accepting or indorsing the bills-or the consignments of goods or otherwise vary the arrangements between the parties, and see what would then be their respective rights and liabilities. Let us, for instance, suppose that A, between the time of giving his order to transfer the goods, and that of the arrival of that order in South America, became bankrupt,— which was really the case,-what would be the consequence of such an event?-Did the bargain between A and C operate as an assignment of the property in A's goods, then held by his agent B? Or did the goods continue to be A's property at the time of his bankruptcy, and consequently go to his assignees * ?—Or suppose that B had, before the receipt of the order, sold the goods, and the order had been for so much of the proceeds as would cover the debt due to C; would

The latter was held to be the case.