brought more firmly to retain in memory the things that they have heard or read. "Often conference, and private debating of points of law, is of great advantage; for thereby are the wit, the memory, and the tongue very much furthered and holpen, and a man is made more ready and bold for public matters; and the truth, which is the work of study, doth more easily appear. And when the mind by long reading is fraught with many thoughts, the wit and the understanding do clarifie and breake up in the communicating and discoursing with another, -he tosseth his thoughts more easily, and marshalleth them more orderly, he seeth how they look when they are turned into words. Finally, he waxeth wiser than himself, and getteth more by an hour's discourse than a day's reading.—It was well said by Themistocles to the King of Persia, that speech was like cloth of arras, opened and put abroad, whereby the imagery doth appear in figures; whereas in thoughts they be but as in a pack.-Nay, of such exceeding advantage it is, that a man (saith Lord Bacon) had better relate himself to a statue or picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother; for he learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his wit as against a stone, which itself cuts not *." * Stu. Leg. Ra. pp. 182-4. SECTION VIII. THE REPORTS-READING OF, AND EXERCISES UPON. Whether a continuous perusal of the Reports should be attempted at all—and if so, whether the pupil should commence with the old ones, or read from the latest up to the old ones-is a question which need not long occupy our attention. There is such a prodigious amount of intricate and obsolete law in all the old reporters, including even Coke, Plowden, and Saunders, as renders it eminently unadvisable for the student to attempt a continuous perusal of them. It would be calculated only to bewilder, mislead, and distract him from those practical studies to which chamber tuition will incessantly call his attention. There is, besides, something proverbially repulsive in the form and structure of our early reports; which, to say nothing of their dreary black letter, Norman French, and Dog-Latin, are stuffed with all manner of obscure pedantries, scholastic as well as legal, involving the simplest points in endless circumlocutions and useless subtleties*. Perhaps, therefore, the student, if desirous of a systematic study of the reports, * Dr. Arbuthnot's celebrated and exquisite burlesque of an old report" (Stradling v. Stiles) will be found in the Appendix. Its humour is not greater than its fidelity. cannot do better than adopt the suggestions of Mr. Raithby, and read from the latest reporters upwards. "In reading the reports," he observes, "I cannot help thinking you will find it most convenient to begin with the latest, referring, as you read, to the earlier cases, as they are cited and commented upon in the judgments of the case you are reading, always making a note of reference from the earlier to the later cases. "The first thing to attend to in this branch of your reading is, a comprehension of the facts of the case; and I think it may be stated, as a general rule, that any report that does not present a clear and succinct statement of the facts on which the point for decision arises, may be passed over; in the next place, read attentively the judgments of the court; and, lastly, such parts of the arguments of counsel, as are commented upon by the court, and no other, except in a few instances, perhaps, for the sake of elucidation; for you will soon find your reading so voluminous as to demand the greatest attention, not less to the expense of time than of money. "You will never consider your reading of any particular case complete, until you have also read and understood, and noted in the proper place, not only that particular case, but the statutes and cases referred to by the court in the judgment; and I should think you would find it useful if, after having made yourself thoroughly acquainted with the facts of any given case, and before you proceeded to the judgment, you were now and then to compose an argument, either extemporaneous or written, and compare it with the arguments advanced by the counsel, but particularly with the judgment of the court. By this method you will have a chance of acquiring legal views, and a course of legal reasoning, which you will find in many instances to be essentially different from the common notions of mankind, and for want of which many men of superior understanding have failed at the bar." Every case in the current number of the reports must, of course, be read over with care proportioned to its importance; and it would be highly advantageous if the student were to associate with himself, in this task, some steady intelligent friend. Their mutual suggestions would be both interesting and instructive. It is of the utmost importance that he should thus become accurately acquainted with the new decisions, which often effect very serious alterations, and of which it might be very dangerous to remain ignorant. This observation is at present of particular consequence, taken up as the courts are with the construction of many new statutes and rules, entirely remodelling the law of practice, pleading, and evidence. If the student be pressed for time, let him content himself with reading over the statement of facts, the questions arising out of it, and the leading judgment; * Letters, pp. 442, 443. but he must not lightly omit perusing the arguments of counsel. He must also cast a careful eye over the short abstract of the pleadings, which is often prefixed to the report; and, if he find in them anything worthy of remembrance, let him make a note of it for future use. He will often, by these means, find most timely and valuable assistance in his own practice. One hint more may be offered on this part of the subject—that the student should guard against an implicit reliance upon the marginal abstracts of the reporters. Learned and experienced though they be, it is not to be expected that in the very difficult task of extracting the essence of a long and intricate case, often with little time at their disposal, they should escape sometimes very serious errors. The student would find it very an admirable exercise to endeavour to frame his own marginal extract of a case, and then compare it with that of the reporter. A little practice of this kind would soon enable him to detect the points of a case, to seize upon its true bearings; and this, as we have already seen, is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of what may be termed a judicial mind.—The student should, however, not only thus read the reports, but should frame exercises upon them. Let him take a particular case, either in the older or more recent reports, and copy out the statement of facts with which it commences; carefully abstaining from reading the marginal abstract, the arguments of counsel, or the judgments. Let him consider this as a case |