21 



" every custom has two essential points, viz. 

 time out of mind, and continual usage, without 

 interruption." 1 Institutes, 110. 



" Now time out of mind has been long ago 

 ascertained by the law to commence from the 

 beginning of the reign of Richard I., and any 

 custom may be destroyed by evidence of its 

 non-existence in any part of that long period 

 from that time to the present." 2 Black. 30, 



Again. " To make a particular custom good, 

 the following are necessary requisites. First, 

 that it has been used so long, that the memory 

 of man runneth not to the contrary ; so that if 

 any one can show the beginning of it, it is no 

 good custom. For which reason no custom can 

 prevail against an Act of Parliament since the 

 statute itself is a proof of a time when such custom 

 did not exist." 1 Black. Com. Introduction 76. 



" If any one can show the beginning of a 

 custom within legal memory, that is, within 

 any time since the first year of Richard I., it 

 is not a good custom." Christian's Notes on 

 Blackstone. 



" Prescription, or custom, must be conti- 



