proper contracts; the several species of civil injuries and crimes, together with the means of applying for and obtaining redress, and of bringing the guilty to condign punishment. It will be to entertain a very mean and disparaging opinion of the venerable monuments of ancient wisdom, contained in the body of the Roman law, to regard the rules there laid down for the decision of controverted points, whether of a public or private nature, as the maxims of mere lawyers. These great masters of legislature were as eminent for their skill in moral as in legal knowledge; and the sublimest notions, both in philosophy and religion, are inculcated in their writings. Accordingly we find them frequently called, among their other titles, Juris divini et humani periti;' and the very definition of jurisprudence given by Ulpian (Dig. I., 10), like that of 'sapientia,' by Cicero (De Off. I., c. 43), is- Divinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia.' This affinity between the study of the law and of philosophy has impressed a remarkably scientific cast upon the responses of the Roman sages; and a competent knowledge of their tenets and principles is absolutely necessary in order to understand with exactness and taste the allusions to Roman customs and manners which abound in the Latin classic authors; to which must be added-what will still more recommend the science to the polite scholar-the purity of the language in which the Pandects, in particular, are composed,-which are

held to be so perfect and elegant in point of style, that the Latin tongue might be retrieved from them, were all other Latin authors lost."

"A man of the law," says Roger North, "would not be willing to stand mute to the question- What is the difference between the Civil and the Common Law? What is the Imperial Law? What the Canon, what the Pandects, Codes,' &c.?-It is not at all needful to study questions in these laws; but the rise and progress of them, in gross, is but a necessary knowledge, and so far taking up but little time, and had by mere inspection of some books, and perusing their introductions. It may with ease and pleasure be interlaced with the common law *.”

The author need add no observations of his own in order to satisfy the student of the importance and advantage of acquiring at least a general knowledge of this great system of jurisprudence. A sketch of the civil law-in Lord Mansfield's opinion "beautiful and spirited"-certainly one of the most luminous and masterly extant, will be found in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter xliv. See also the 1st vol. of Blackstone's Commentaries, passim; Dr. Hallifax's "Analysis" and Dr. Taylor's "Elements" of the Civil Law; Mr. Butler's "Horæ Subsecivæ ;" and Reeve's "History of the English Law," passim.

Study of the Law, pp. 8—9.

INTERNATIONAL LAW has also serious claims upon the student's attention." The law of nations," says Blackstone," in the course of a concise and comprehensive sketch of this branch of jurisprudence, " is a system of rules deducible by natural reason, and established by universal consent, among the civilised inhabitants of the world; in order to decide all disputes, to regulate all ceremonies and civilities, and to ensure the observance of justice and good faith in that intercourse which must frequently occur between two or more independent states, and the individuals belonging to each. This general law is founded on the principle that different nations ought, in time of peace, to do one another all the good they can; and, in time of war, as little harm as possible, without injury to their own real interests. And as none of these states will allow a superiority in the other, therefore neither can dictate or prescribe the rules of this law to the rest; but such rules must necessarily result from those principles of natural justice, in which all the learned of every nation agree; or they depend upon mutual compacts or treaties between the respective communities; in the construction of which there is also no judge to resort to, but the law of nature and reason, being the only one in which all the contracting parties are equally conversant, and to which they are equally subject *.

4 Bla. Com. 66, 67. See, also, the instructive judgment of Sir William Scott (now Lord Stowell), in the case of the ship Flad Oyen,

Sir James Mackintosh's "Discourse on the Study of the Law of Nature and Nations," will give the reader a very elegant and comprehensive sketch of the subject, and of the respective characters and pretensions of the leading writers upon it.-Puffendorf, Grotius, Wolf, Vattel, Heineccius, and Burlamaqui. Vattel, the abridger of Wolf, has been very recently edited, with considerable care and ability, by Mr. Chitty, and will certainly prove a useful addition to the student's library. The notes, which are very copious, will serve to show him the practical connexion between the international and our own common law; and the whole work is calculated to give him correct and enlarged views of one of the most important departments of jurisprudence.

SECTION XIV.

AGE OF BEING CALLED TO THE BAR.

CERTAIN writers have very confidently named the particular ages which are most suitable for a man to be called to the bar: the author is, however, of opinion, that the only considerations proper to determine this very important point are, the student's

1 Robs. Rep. 115;—and the valuable note of Mr. Chitty to his edition of Vattel, pp. liii. lvi (1), where will be found collected the various authorities on the subject.

* See Raithby's Letters.-Lett. xxxv.

attainments, and the probabilities he may have of securing permanent employment. Let any one go into any of the courts, and after casting his eye over the fearful throng of the unemployed the "great briefless "-judge of the extent to which such considerations have been disregarded, and the unfortunate result. He sees some three or four hundred young men, all of whom went to the bar filled with eager hopes of success, yet who never are, and probably never will be, employed to the amount of twenty pounds a year! How many of these might have secured to themselves a respectable business, had they been contented to "bide their time" under the bar,-acquiring, either as students, sound learning, or, as practising pleaders, employment, experience, and connexion! In the present fierce competition for business, when almost every attorney has either a son, other relative, or a friend at the bar, what madness is it for young men, not so favoured— possessing, neither, the requisite ability to rush into court the moment they are legally qualified to appear there! How absurd to complain of the want of employment! How dreary the prospect before them!-Supposing, even, that some lucky accident should bring such a man business-should give him an opportunity of showing himself, and so of securing further employment-but that he proves utterly unequal to the occasion sudden"—and consequently exhibits a lamentable specimen of incompetence! His