PROPERTY IN THINGS PERSONAL.. Property in animals and in the young of tame animals.. 586 First in animals feræ naturæ.... Qualified property per industriam..... Bees...... TITLE BY SUCCESSION AND MARRIAGE Continued. OR. PAGE. TITLE BY BANKRUPTCY TOP PAGE. Consideration of reasons for bankruptcy law. Statutes 22 & 23 Car. 2 and 29 Car. 2, c. 30, direct dis- tribution of residue of intestate's personal estate...... 647 OR. PAGE. TOP PAGE. COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND. INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. THE STUDY OF THE LAW. COMMENTARIES on the Laws of England may properly commence with some general exhortation to the study of our law, and some specific reasons why that study should be cultivated. A law is an ordinance dictated by some power which can enforce obedience to its will. (a) A complete body of laws professes to be adapted, or to be capable of adaptation, to every case calling for the interposition of justice which can arise within the limits of the country where it obtains. Legal principles, therefore, do not change or vary in subservience to the fashion of the times, though they are flexible and accommodate themselves to new facts which could not have been within the contemplation of those who originated and propounded them. Likewise, to prevent needless litigation, the decrees of courts of justice are uniform in a much greater degree, at all events, than may popularly be supposed. [*2] A mere statement of the foregoing propositions might suffice to show that law is the science which regulates our social system, which ensures its stability and cohesion, which affords to each member of the commonwealth a due protection. Law, in short, is the science which maintains an equilibrium between the different social forces, each of which being placed under subjection to the law, is made to act harmoniously with its fellows. To demonstrate still further the utility of some acquaintance with our laws, to all classes of the community, the following reflections may be offered: Importance of a Political or civil liberty, rightly understood, consists in the power of doing whatsoever the laws permit ; (b) it can only exist in virtue of a general conformity, by all orders and degrees, to those equitable knowledge of law to all classes: (a) Post, p. 31. ejus, quod cuique facere libet, nisi si quid vi |