STEWART'S BLACKSTONE. *

IT was the "belief" of Johnson, that there is in every nation a style so "consonant and congenial to the analogy and principles of its respective language" as never to become obsolete. If this is true of mere diction, it would seem to be equally true of any art or science, especially if founded in nature. A thorough compre- hension of a particular science ought to produce a treatise that should be a text-book for all time, although particular parts might be corrected by subsequent discoveries. Except Euclid's Elements, we know of no natural science whose exposition rises to this high

• Commentaries on the Laws of England. In four Books. By Sir William Black- stone, Ent., one of the Justices of his Majesty's Court of Common Pleas. The twenty-ninth edition, incorporating the Alterations down to the Present Time. By James Stewart, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., Barrister-at-law. In four volumes. Pub- lished by Stevens and Norton.

even when the object is to do what is equitable in the question any os misbehaviour."

consider the learning of Blackstone to be the source of his profes- purchase-money amongst themselves. .

sional utility and value ; he has saved the student so much " re- In looking critically at this edition, there is one objection to search," and in black-letter law of little practical nee. This opin- the plan, that the words of Blackstone are not distinguished from ion, however, is not quite founded in fact - A good deal of the those of his emender. This is a drawback; and it was felt as older law is obsolete from some cause or other. The mechanical such by Mr. Stewart. He says in his first preface to the second members—that is, the bulk of a profession—never trouble them- volume, (on the Law of Property—which was published first) selves with original " research." Indeed, every compendium more that " it was intended to have shown the alterations by brackets or less supersedes its absolute necessity, for compendiums exhibit or other distinctive marks ; and this would have been greatly pre- essentials, though their essences are second-hand. We incline to at- ferred by the editor." The extent of the alterations induced the tribtite the permanent demand for Blackstone to thatquality which is abandonment of this plan; and, judging from the result, it was the primary excellence of all art—largeness andstructure. His exten- practically judicious. The volume on the most technical and sive learning, or rather his mastery of the law, enabled him so the- recondite subject has reached a fourth edition ; the other volumes roughly to comprehend and arrange the entire subject, that you must have reached a third ; and besides the extensive professional use cut away English law root and branch before you can destroy the which such demand establishes, some of the Colleges at Oxford, we practical use of the Commentaries. For example, the whole law believe, have adopted part of the work as a text-book for not only of real property might be abolished; but this would only super- •law degrees, but for all degrees. sede one section of the work—the rest of the work would be Illi• touched. Get rid of the Ecclesiastical Courts,—" a consummation PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. devoutly to be wished,"—the remainder, and a very large remainder Boons. of Blackstone, would still be necessary. Nay, the total abrogation of civil and criminal law would hardly destroy his utility. The The Private Letters of Sir James Brooke, II.C.B., .Rajah of Sarawak;

constitution and its institutions—Ring, Lords, Commons, free- Edited by John C. Templer Esq., Barrister-at-law, and one of the

holder, parson, parish, juryman, property, and almost the family Masters of her Majesty's Court of Exchequer. In three volumes. itself—must be rooted out or transformed, before Blackstone could The Rife and the Hound in Ceylon. By S. W. Baker, Esq. With

be wholly got rid of, so largely and thoroughly has he comprehended numerous Illustrations printed in Colours, and Engravings on Wood.

the nature and genius of English law, so skilfully has he arranged A Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians. Revised and abridged

and so attractively expounded it, from his larger Worle, by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, D.C.L., ELS.,

master, does not allow inaccuracy in its details ; and various at- Reminiscences of a Medical Life; with Cases and Practical Illustra- tempts have been made to keep the Commentaries up to the current of Physicians, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, &o. state of the law. Not many years after Blackstone's death, Chris- Once upon a Time. By Charles Knight. In two volumes. tian published what became for a long time a standard edition, with Blanche Neville ; a Record of Married Life. By the Author of "Faith

correctory notes. Some thirty years ago, the present Mr. Justice in Earnest," &c.

Coleridge published another leading edition having the same object A lionth in England. By Henry T. Tuckerman, Author of "The in view—that of adaptino. Blackstone to the changes that time had Italian Sketch-Book," &c. worked in law. Those changes, however, were comparatively small. The public mind had not begun to "march" in legal reform, Prize Essay. on the Laws for the Protection of Women. By James Ed-

though making preparations in that direction. Within this last ward Davis, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-law.

quarter of a century the changes have been rapid and great, some- [This Essay on the Laws for the Protection of Women is the best "prize" production we have seen. It owes its merit most probably to the fact that it is times sweeping. Still the Commentaries have held their ground, a treatise by professional man on a practical matter connected with his own supercession being deemed hopeless. Some editors have continued art. Mr. Davis arranges his subject in three leading divisions-1. An historical to mark the changes by notes. Mr. Dingwall Williams published review of the laws in this country as regards the "protection of women" and a Companion Book and Supplement, in which the words of Black- an account of their present state ; 2. A similar exposition of the legis- stone were extracted and the alterations presented in another type. lation of other countries past and present; 3. Suggestions for the im- lir. James Stewart, in 1837 began with a single volume the plan provement of the law of England on the subject. These suggestions include

an extension of the last act ; a new law to render seduction in certain cases of giving the whole of BlacIstone incorporating the changes in a misdemeanour, without abrogating the right of civil action; a change in the text itself. The idea was good; for foot-notes, or other par- the existing law to enable a parent or next of kin to maintain an action for tial corrections, are invariably distracting, and are apt to be ne- seduction without pleading the barbarous fiction of loss of service, and more glected. The execution was difficult; for there was a great chance stringent remedies against houses of ill fame. The last proposition seems some- of making a piebald work, and repelling by incongruity of style. some-

other suggestions are sound enough, especially that which relates to a change So well, however, has Mr. Stewart succeeded, that he has not in the right of action for seduction. The rule derived from a barbarous age, only gained the approval of a profession whose very trade it is to and, strange to say, rigidly interpreted by judges,. gives perfect impunity to be captious as well as critical, but he has got their money too. the worst class of cases. The Society at whose instigation this essay was This first attempt was so favourably received that he was induced written, and, after long struggles, the Statute 12 and 13 Vie. cap. 76 passed, to extend it to all the four volumes, and the .New Blackstone now had better have begun with this reform than with the more difficult and appears in a complete series. The Autobiography of William Jerdan, N.B.s.z., Corresponding

which time has brought, without distracting the reader's attention Literary, Political, and Social Reminiscences and Correspondence du-

by breaks and foot-notes, is not the only feature of Mr. Stewart's ring the last Forty Years. Volume IV. . edition. He quietly indicates the optimism of his great author, [The Literary Gazette, from the time of its establishment in public favour till the autobiographer ceased to be connected with it, is the subject of this which could scarcely see and rarely own a defect in the " perfec- e persistence concluding volume. The theme is doubtless varied. Authors of established tion of reason," and which induced him to ascribe the reputation' with whom Mr. Jerdan's position brought him into contact— of husbands in " correcting " their wives, after the right was for- young and struggling writers, whom a kind notice encouraged, and, as the

bidden, to love for the common law, critic would intimate, assisted into celebrity—are continually met with. "The husband also (by the old law) might give his wife moderate cor- Booksellers and persons of professional or social note also figure in the poses; rection. For, as he is to answer for her misbehaviour, the law thought it while relief is given to narrative by a variety of letters apparently written reasonable to intrust-him with this power of restraining her, by domestic without a thought of publication. With these are mingled some of the chastisement, in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his usual accounts of not very intelligible losses, and tales of ruthless creditors. rank,—unless the reader should be disposed to place the Wealth apprentices or children ; for whom the master or parent is also liable in so .

of .Nations and some of the works of Aristotle in the category. re cases to answer. But this power of correction was confined within reasonable It is a conclusive testimony to the merit of Blackstone, that he bounds, and the husband was prohibited from using any violence to his wife, ' aliter quam ad virum, ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris sum, licite unquestionably belongs to this rare class of writers, and on a sub- et rationabiliter pertinet.' The civil law gave the husband the same or a ject arbitrary rather than natural. It may be said that the prin- larger authority over his wife ; allowing him, for some misdemeanours, ciples of right are as deeply founded in the mind of man as is ' flagellis et fustibus acriter verberare uxorem '; for others, only ' modicum cas- anything in mental or physiCal science, and that law being a regu- tigationem adhibere.' But, with us, in the politer reign of Charles the se.. lated mode of enforcing what is right, is as natural as magnitude, cond, this power of correction began to be doubted ; and a wife may new have security of the peace against her husband ; or, in return, a husband form, and number, or as the best mode of reasoning, or of increas- against his wife. Yet the lower rank of people, who are always fond of old ing the wealth of the community. Whatever the case may be in common law, still claim and exert their ancient privilege ; and the courts of theory, however, there is very little that is natural in English law : law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife of her liberty, in case of grs sub judice, the question itself often originates in some narrow rule Mr. Stewart has not, however, satisfied himself with modern-- or some barbarous custom. The changes in our material dream- living Blackstone. He has added two new chapters embracing stances, and the progress of public opinion' have continually given the improvements in the practice of Chancery, and alienation, or 99Q4SiOn to alterations in the law, which would altogether have more truly perhaps conveyance, by act of Parliament, chiefly in destroyed a less thoroughly grounded work than the Commentaries reference to Railroads and Enclosures. These chatters may be on the Laws of i?nydand. praised as a clear and concise exposition of an entire braneh ce- Various particular CaUses are assigned for the excellence and en- new law, which the reader could peruse as those of the great corn_ durance of Blackstone. Some speak of his style. This is, no mentator. They are also -worth remark on another account.. doubt, clear, elegant, and polite (in the sense of polite literature); Whenever a reform is proposed in any cumbrous and expensive= and its attraction survives though its mode or fashion has passed branch of law, there is an immediate outcry as to difficulty, dan- away. Diffusive he is ; but perhaps not more than is necessary ger, and so forth. When the interest of two such powerful bodies in a subject many of whose parts are abstruse, and at any rate not as Lords of the Manor and Railway Companies came in question, more than is desirable for an introduction to a professional course the " difficulties " were soon got over and the " danger " risked. of study ; all the first readers of such a book being tyros, and in- The principle of the Railway Bill is analogous to that of the Irish capable of grasping the meaning of very condensed diction without Encumbered Estates Act. The Railway Company forces a sale at a more mental effort than the bulk of them will give, and at a greater value fixed upon, pays the price, secures a valid title, and leaves expense of time and labour than the fuller diation requires. Others the parties concerned to settle the proportions or rights of the sional utility and value ; he has saved the student so much " re- In looking critically at this edition, there is one objection to search," and in black-letter law of little practical nee. This opin- the plan, that the words of Blackstone are not distinguished from ion, however, is not quite founded in fact - A good deal of the those of his emender. This is a drawback; and it was felt as