and other topics connected with the administration of public law; the equity system administered in the courts of the United States, in some respects, necessarily varying from that, constituting a part of the local law of the states; and, lastly, this local law itself, so far as in these courts it regulates the rights and remedies of parties, and is brought into discussion in cases between citizens of different states. The complicated relations of the states with each other make the administration of this branch of jurisprudence (which may, not unfitly, be denominated international private law) a task of no inconsiderable delicacy and difficulty. Above all, it embraces the discussions of those questions of constitutional law, which have, on various occasions, engaged the earnest attention of the different states in the Union, and which have been so ably argued at the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. In the next place, it devotes a whole chapter to the collection and arrangement of the laws of the several states respecting titles to real estate, by grant, by devise, and by descent and distribution. This, of course, must bring together a very important mass of matters, not easily found in any single private or public library, and furnish ample means not only for professional instruction, but for the exercise of legislative discretion. The harmonies and discrepances of the different systems are thus presented in a single view; and the best opportunity afforded of correcting errors, and introducing gradually homogeneous and consistent regulations on these vital interests of the Union. Moreover, it embraces a large collection of decisions, many of which have never before appeared in print, and are valuable, from their general applicability, as well as the fidelity, with which they are reported. Before the publication of regular reports in our country, many questions of the highest moment were litigated and decided in our courts, which form rules of property; and it is no inconsiderable present to the profession to embody these in an authentic form, as well as to add to some of the cases now in print reports more full, exact, and satisfactory. Again, large extracts are introduced from the civil, the French, and other foreign law. The utility of this part of the work cannot escape the observation of the profession. The civil law, modified by French and Spanish ordinances and usages, constitutes the basis of the law of Louisiana and the territory of the Floridas. These portions of the Union are daily becoming more and more interesting, in a commercial view, to all the states. The law, which there regulates civil and commercial rights and remedies, is of great practical importance to emigrants, to merchants, and to relatives residing in distant regions. Unlike the other states, in which a common jurisprudence, that of the common law, prevails, these territories are perpetually presenting unsuspected differences, not only in rights, but in the administration of remedies, which require to be accurately known, in order to avoid embarrassing and often fatal mistakes. Lawyers, therefore, in every part of the Union, will gladly accept any means of assisting their inquiries on these subjects, and will find ready answers to many questions. Fortunately for Louisiana, no inconsiderable portion of her civil jurisprudence has been reduced into a systematic code, whose basis is that admirable performance, the Napoleon Code. Mr. Livingston is now executing, under her patronage, a Digest of her Criminal Jurisprudence; and from the portions, which we have been permitted to inspect, we have no difficulty in saying, that it is a work of singular acuteness and philosophical precision, and in the highest degree creditable to his genius and industry. Such works have been occasionally disparaged by the exclusive admirers of the common law, and still more so by the overheated zeal and extravagance of some of the advocates of codes; but we feel a confidence, that they are so useful and convenient, that they will, at no distant period, attract the attention of the legislatures of other states, and gradually lead to great improvements in the science of legislation, as well as in the actual administration of the law. But it is not in this view alone, that the civil and foreign law have claims upon those, whose province it is to cultivate the study of the common law. The civil law itself is an inexhaustible treasury of general principles, solid distinctions, and just doctrines, applicable to the concerns of a busy commercial age, and especially to every species of commercial contracts. The common law has, indeed, appropriated to itself, without a fair acknowledgment, many principles of this admired jurisprudence. Our law of contracts rests on this basis, and has become equitable only so far as it has ceased to be feudal, and liberal so far as it has been drawn from Roman fountains. The splendid panegyric of Gibbon, in the forty-fourth chapter of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is not a mere vainglorious boast, but is supported by facts. "The vain titles of the victories of Justinian," says the historian, "are crumbled into dust; but the name of the legislator is inscribed on a fair and everlasting monument. Under his reign, and by his care, the civil jurisprudence was digested in the immortal works of the Code, the Pandects, and the Institutes. The public reason of the Romans has been silently or studiously transfused into the domestic institutions of Europe; and the laws of Justinian still command the respect or obedience of independent nations." Dr. Brown, a very competent judge, in one of the notes to his Brief Sketch of the Civil Law, says, "I scarcely ever yet have met with a point, not connected with the feudal law, in which, if English books did not satisfy the doubt, I have failed to find its resolution in the civil law." Can it, then, be doubted, that an incorporation of such of the civil law principles, as are illustrative of the common law, into an abridgment, is of great value to students, and especially to those, who wish to acquire philosophical views of jurisprudence, and aspire to something beyond the reach of an ordinary attorney? The author well remarks, that, "A complete system of law and equity, best calculated to preserve the power of the magistrate and the rights of the people, is the last thing men attain to in society. Peter the Great soon. understood every thing in the civilized parts of Europe, but the laws; and because he could not understand them, he never ceased to prefer the despotism of Turkey, where the judges are not restrained by any methods, forms, or laws.' Ancient Greece, though eminent in other sciences, never had such a system. The reason is seen in the almost infinite variety, extent, and combination of ideas, founded in nature, experience, and cultivated morality, so essential in forming and completing such a system. It is very clear, that a great republic, in which there is room for talents; in which thoughts and actions are not restrained by religious or political despotism; in which education is encouraged, and moral character is esteemed; in which the law rules, and not the sword; in which each one asserts his rights by law, and not by force; and in which there is representation, jury-trial, and a free press, is the natural field of law and equity; but to produce these in perfection, there must be a national character. The rules of law and equity, in important matters, must be uniform, and pervade the whole nation." Introd. pp. 14, 15. |