L A W. SS5 
ciples to particular cafes; and, laftly, the liberality of 
fentiment, which (though late) has now taken poffeffion 
of our courts of common law, and induced them to 
adopt (where faCts can be clearly afcertained) the fame 
principles of red refs as have prevailed in our courts of 
equity, from the time that lord Nottingham prefided 
there; and this, not only where fpecially impowered by 
particular ftatutes, (as in cafe of bonds, mortgages, and 
fet-offs,) but by extending the remedial influence of the 
equitable writ of trefpafs on the cafe, according to its 
primitive inftitution by king Edward I. to almoft every 
inftance of injuflice not remedied by any other procefs. 
Thefe are all the material alterations that have happened 
with refpecl to private juftice, in the courfe of the lafl and 
prefent centuries. 
Thus, therefore, have we endeavoured to delineate fome 
rude outlines of a plan for the biftory of our laws and li¬ 
berties; from their fir It rife, and gradual progrefs, among 
our Britifii and Saxon anceftors, till their total eclipfe at 
the Norman conquelt; from which they have gradually 
emerged, and rifen to the perfection they now enjoy, at 
different periods of time. We have feen, that the maxims 
and rules of the law, which regard the rights of perfons, 
and the rights of things, the private injuries that may be 
offered to both, and the crimes which affect the public, 
have been and are every day improving, and are now 
fraught with the accumulated wildom of ages; that the 
forms of'adminiftering jultice came to perfection under 
Edward I. and have not been much varied, nor always 
for the better, fince ; that our religious liberties were fully 
eftablilhed at the reformation ; but that the recovery of 
our civil and political liberties was a work of longer time ; 
they not being thoroughly and completely regained till 
after the reftoration of king Charles II. nor fully and ex¬ 
plicitly acknowledged and defined till the era of the re¬ 
volution. 
Of a conftitution fo wifely contrived, fo ftrongly raifed, 
and fo highly finifhed, it is hard to fpeak with that praife 
which is juftly and leverely its due; but it has defects, 
chiefly ariflng from the decays of time, or the rage of un- 
fkilful improvements in later ages. The objects of all 
thefe laws, whether they refpecl the rights of perfons—the 
rights of things—private wrongs—or public wrongs—are 
fet forth at length under their proper titles in the general 
alphabet. And, as-Dr. Burn very jullly obferves, one re¬ 
flection will naturally occur to every reader, in perufing 
almoft every one of the larger titles ; and that is, concern¬ 
ing the poifibiliry and expediency of reforming the Ita- 
tute-law. The ftatutes at large, from the very nature of 
the thing, have in procefs of time become very cumber- 
fome, and very intricate. They are not to be purchafed 
but for a larger fum of money, nor to be underflood with¬ 
out a greater expenle of time, than a wife man would of¬ 
ten choofe to employ in that way. 
The courfe to be taken in that matter feems to be this: 
Firft, actually to repeal all thole liatutes, and parts of fta- 
tutes, which are virtually repealed, by fubfequent contradic¬ 
tory liatutes. Secondly, to repeal all thole ftatutes which 
are obfolcte, and grown out of ufe, by the alteration of 
times and circumftances. Thirdly, to repeal all thofe Ita- 
tates, which, being neither contradicted by fubfequent fta¬ 
tutes nor become obfolete, yet are rendered ujelefs by 
fubfequent ftatutes enacting the fame things over again, 
with alterations and amendments. Fourthly, to repeal or 
alter all thofe ftatutes which are frivolous, that is, which 
poffibly cannot, or probably never will, be executed ; fuch 
as thofe which appoint an offender to be whipped by the 
hands of the common hangman, where perhaps there is 
no fuch officer; or which prohibit an offence under a 
fmall penalty to be recovered in the courts at Weftminf- 
ter, where the reward will not countervail the expenfe of 
recovering it. Fifthly, to omit all thofe ftatutes, which, 
although enaCted to be public liatutes, yet are only of 
private concern ; fuch as thofe for bridges in particular 
places, or paving the ftreets in fuch a market-town; and 
Vo i. XII. No. 838. 
the like. Sixthly, as to the reft, fo lay all the ftatutes, 
and claufes of ftatutes, together, which relate to the fame 
fubjeCt; and out of the whole to compofe one, two, or 
more, uniform and confiftent ftatutes; and then to repeal 
all thofe other, as workmen deftroy the fcafrolding when 
they have ereCted the building. 
There appears but of one material objection againft this 
method of proceeding; and that is, that, the law' being 
now for the tnoft part well fettled upon the ftatutes, not- 
withftanding their acknowledged diforder and confufion, 
this would tend to unfettle all again, by breaking the 
connexion which there is between one llatute and an¬ 
other, and one part of a llatute and another, altering the 
words and phrafes, and after all, perhaps, not much mend¬ 
ing the matter, fince it is poffible that the new ftatutes 
may be as liable to objections as the former were. But 
this is an argument, not fo much againft the thing itlelf 
as againft the manner in which it may be executed. As 
to breaking the connexion, it is certain that 1 for the moft 
part there is no connexion ; and, where there is, that may 
eafily be preferved : and it ought to be laid down as an 
invariable rule, to retain as much as poffible the identical 
words and fentences of the former ftatutes ; only reject¬ 
ing what is fuperfiuous, inferring'the clear law as it now 
Hands, and putting the fame into a form more regular, 
concife, and ealy. And this feerr.eth no way impolfible 
to be done, by any perfon of a tolerable understanding, 
endowed only with a clear head and much patience. 
Burn's Juftice, vol. iv. 
All our law-proceedings were formerly written, as in¬ 
deed all public proceedings were, in Norman or law 
French ; and even the arguments of the counfel and de- 
cifions of the court were in the fame barbarous dialect. 
An evident and Shameful badge, it nuift be owned, of-ty- 
ranny and foreign fervitude; being introduced under the 
aufpices of William the Norman, and his fons ; whereby 
the obfervation of the Roman fatirift was once more veri¬ 
fied, that Gallia cavfidicos docuit facunda Britannos. This 
continued till the reign of Edward III. who, having em¬ 
ployed his arms fuccelsfully in fubduing the crown of 
France, thought it unbefeeming the dignity of the victors 
to ufe any longer the language of a vanquiffied country. 
By a ftatute, therefore, palfed in the 36th year of his reign, 
it was enaCted, that for the future “all pleas Should be 
pleaded, ffiown, defended, anfwered, debated, and judged, 
in the Englilh tongue; but be entered and enrolled in 
Latin.” 
The Latin, which fuccceded the French for the entry 
and enrolment of pleas, and which continued in ufe for 
four centuries, anfwers fo nearly to the Englilh, (often¬ 
times word for word,) that it is not at all furprifing it 
fhould generally be imagined to be totally fabricated at 
home, with little more art or trouble than by adding Ro¬ 
man terminations to Englilh words: whereas in reality 
(as Blackltone tells us) it is a very univerfal dialect, fpread 
throughout all Europe at the irruption of the northern 
nations; and particularly accommodated and moulded to 
aniwer all the purpofes of the lawyers with a peculiar ex- 
actnefs and precifion. This technical Latin continued in 
ufe from its firft introduction till the time of Oliver Crom¬ 
well ; when, among many other innovations in the law, 
fome for the better and fome for the worfe, the language 
of our records was altered and turned into Englilh. But, 
at the reftoration of king Charles, this novelty was no 
longer countenanced ; the praClifers finding it very diffi¬ 
cult to exprels themfelves fo concifely or iignificantly in 
any other language but the Latin. And thus it conti¬ 
nued till about the year 1730, when it was again thought 
proper that the proceedings at law Should be done into 
Englilh, and it was accordingly fo ordered by flat. 4 Geo. 
II. c. 26. But the translation of technical phrafes, and 
the names of writs and other procefs, were found to be 
fo very ridiculous, (a writ of nifi prius, quart impedit, fieri 
facias, habeas corpus, and the reft, not being capable of an 
Englilh drel's with any degree of ferioufnefis.) that in two 
5 F years* 
