The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-04-09
Law Lecture Of 4. w. stoughto.. nsq.

TIE CVAAVN Law, THE CIVIL Law AND CODIF1.
CATION.
Mr.. SToUaHToN delivered lecture before tho
Law Institute, ON Wednesday evening last, Of which
the following are few abstracts. Having intro
duced the subjects Of his lecture by some appro-
pirate preliminary remarks, he said:-This common
law sits in judgment upon us all. From the cradle
to the grave are subject to its authority. No
American lawyer would deserve the name, who had
not made it the subject of profound study; and no
student could prepare himself for the practice Of his
profession, without the most patient and laborous
examination Of its principles. 1t enters into and
forms part Of the organic law, by which our Union
was created and is held together; it is embodied
in. and forms part of the constitutions Of many
Of the States composing that Union.
l entertain for it (he common law very old
fashioned veneration. 1t has been amended and
improved and believe it may, and will be further
amended and improved. 1t has grown slowly
through hundreds of years into its present form,
and has improved with its growth and will continue
to grow and improve, unless Slapped and destroyed
by inconsderate and reckless codifcaton. There is
a kind Of codifcation which is quite harmless, and
eminently useful 1t is the collection Of leading
cases, with the addition of notes and references to
each case, fer the purpose Of showing how far it
has been confirmed, or changed, by the late deci.
sions. In this pursuit, our modern codifers and
reformers would naturally acquire some little know
ledge of system they SO loudly condemn, and are
so eager to destroy. They should remember tho
advice Of the Roman lawyer; that he who would
alter the law, should first make himself acquainted
with that he seeks to amend.
The learned lecturer thus concluded an elaborate but
very able address, which occupied over an hour -
Men who live in civilized lands need not be told that
there is collection of broad and comprehensiv
rules known az the law of nations They were not
framed by a congress Of states, nor fabricated by
that narrow conceted intelligence, which, if unop
posed, would amend and paraphrase the ten COM
mandments They are the growth Of many ages.
States do not bow to their authority because they
are laws. but because they are just. They have no
binding force as cnactments but that nation which
should disregard them would be branded by all
other nations with the curse Of outlawry There
was time when kings, in atonement for religious
offences, ourneyed barefoot to Rome for Papal par
don and absolution At this day, that monarch
who having violated the law of nations should thus
PEELED to make the circuit of half the earth The
great commonwealth of nations owes allegiance to
this law, as individuals owe it to tho laws Of that
state OF which they citizens or subjects. Blot
out this law and all free and kindly intercourse be-
tween states would soon disappear. Weaken this
allegiance, and that rich and varied commerce,
which by mutual interchange bestows upon each
portion of the globe the blessings and the luXuries
of every other. would wither and die away, wasted
by legazed piraces and the plumber Of kings. This
law is not obliterated; this allegiance stands un-
shaken. The merchant fearessy sends his costly
cargoes to the ports Of every people, trusting for
their safety to this paramount common law OF ma
tons which, founded in nature, and upon the princi
pies of eternal justice. is recognized alike by the
Christian and the infdel, by the imperial despot and
the representative Of popular power Every state
bound by this law is collective person, each quite
independent OF the other, and all for the sake of
mutual intercourse. forming great republic 60
verned by system of rules drawn from the reason
of man, the experience of ages, and the revelations
OF hos
rules customs and maxims, to which the common
law Of England owes much of its bulk, its authority,
and its value. Men forming great society,
living in close intercourse, soon established with
each other an infinite variety of relations and
these could only be maintained and protected
by just regard for individual rights, without
which the safety and happiness Of all would be sub
ject to peril and outrage. Out of this necessity
guished alike for simplicity and for justice. They
sprang from that sense of right and wrong Of which
the lowest intellect seldom destitute and of which
the highest sometimes stands in need. They fou-
rshed and ripened into laws, by unanimous consent
Each individual in the community contributed his
voice to their creation, and every dissenting voice
weakened the rule sought to be established. No
custom was finally settled until all acknowledged it
of binding obligations and when, at length, it had
received the full sanction of generation, it de-
scended to the next, clothed in much of that sacred
ness with which al reverence invests the dying in
functions of departed parents. Laws thus formed
possess at least advantage over legislative enact
mens. The latter hastily framed, upon little or
no consideration, by bare maorties, who often
disregard the true welfare of those they represent
The former are of slow growth, owing their origin
solely to intrinsic merit and compelled to seek the
universal assent of those whose interests are to be
Immediately affected by their rejection adoption.
prefer the parenage of the common law to that Of
the civil law. / prefer the slowly grown custom,
sanctioned by the silent acquiescence of a whole
people, to law framed by Roman EN-
peror. decreed by Roman Senate, or enacted
by Roman rabble ] prefer the decision Of
an English judge, pronounced after full argu-
to suit the views of some Roman lawyer | have
now briefly described the origin and the nature of
the common law. 1t has struggled against the
prerogatiye Of kings; it has denounced the judicial
usupations of the star chamber. Where jurors have
pronounced verdcs in its name letters have dropped
from manacled limbs, they did when the Angel of
God spake in the olden time. 1t was invoked by
the heroic Hambden, when he refused to pay the tax
imposed by arbitrary power; and its repeated viola
tions finally conducted the author Of that illegal inn
position from throne to the scaold. 1t has carried,
in its onward course some Of the fruit of that pro-
mise made to the patriarch Of old that in his seed
all the nations of the earth should be blessed.
Tempests have shaken and rent thrones revolutions
haveshivered crownsand sceptres and stilli has with
stood the blast Of these tempest and the wild whrl
of these revolutions, waving its long, firm branches
shattered State and desolated people Its
history is the history of the AngloSaxon race and
in the history of that race will yet be merged and
written the future history Of the world. 1t is con-
fined to no land, it withers in soil. 1t is adj
ministered by English judges in that gorgeous
Ind where the Macedonian hero sustained his
first defeat; and it sways upon that lonely island
where modern Alexander was confined and died.
1t keeps pace with the iron tramp of conquest, and
poises the scales Of justice when the rule Of the
warrior ends. 1t marches in the front rank of
human progress, and expands and adapts itself to
the wants and vcissitudes Of men. 1t is the bond
servant of Christianity, and bears inscribed upon
its principles everlasting fidelity to the revealed laws
Of God. (Applause.)
Mr.. Anthem, the Vice President, then announced
that the next lecture would be delivered by William
G. Noyes, Esq.
The Late Explosion at Hell Gate.