248 COMMON LAW PROGRESSIVE. 



' Sir, and your honors/ Baid WIRT, straightening himself 

 up to his full height, ' I am not bound to grope my way 

 among the ruins of antiquity, to stumble over obsolete 

 statutes, or delve in black letter law, in search of a prin- 

 ciple written in living letters upon the heart of every man.' 

 If the idea contained in this answer of WIRT, were more 

 fully appreciated by our modern jurists, it would be all the 

 better for the country. 



" The common law is said to be the perfection of reason. 

 This is doubtless true, but it is the perfection of the reason 

 of the present, as well as of the past. Its principles are 

 elastic, suiting themselves to the civilization of all ages. 

 They are progressive, keeping pace with the progress of 

 all times. They are not immutable, save in the element 

 of right, and they therefore shape themselves to all 

 circumstances, moving along with the onward march of 

 trade, the commerce, the social relations, and business of 

 the people. The learning of to-day, the wisdom, the phi- 

 losophy of to-day is profounder than that of any preceding 

 century, and it is folly to overthrow it by, or compel it 

 to give place to, the learning, the wisdom, the philosophy 

 of departed and ruder ages. 



" In regard to your question, whether there is not some 

 relaxation of the law necessary, in vindication of the civili- 

 zation of the age, against the legal barbarisms remaining 

 upon the statute book, and in the common law in regard 

 to our wives, I answer frankly that I do not know about 

 that. The law, as you read it in Blackstone, and as you 



