occasionally vicious. Instances of this sort may be found in his report of Calvin's case, which also contains examples of the defect before mentioned. The principal question of law brought under the consideration of the court in that celebrated cause was: whether the plaintiff, who had been born in Scotland, after the crown of England had descended to James I., was an alien born, and consequently disabled from bringing any action real or personal for lands within the realm of England. It was observed that there were four nouns, which might be called nomina operativa, in the plea, viz.: ligeantia, (allegiance,) regnum, (kingdom,) leges, laws,) and alienigena (alien.) Each of these subjects underwent a separate discussion. On coming to the last, the reporter observes: "Now we are in order come to the fourth noun (which is the fourth general part) alienigena: wherein six things did fall into consideration. 1. Who was alienigena, an alien born by the laws of England? 2. How many kinds of aliens born there were? 3. What incidents belonged to an alien born? 4. The reason why an alien is not capable of inheritance or freehold within England? 5. Examples, resolutions, and judgments reported in our books in all successions of ages, proving the plaintiff to be no alien. 6. Demonstrative conclusions upon the premises, approving the same." After examining the first five points at some length, he comes to the last head, which, he says, comprises "six demonstrative illations or conclusions, drawn plainly and expressly from the premises." Among these six arguments, it does not require much penetration to discover the unsoundness of the following.

"Every stranger must at his birth be amicus or inimicus; but Calvin at his either birth could neither be amicus nor inimicus: Ergo, he is no stranger born. Inimicus he cannot be, because he is subditus; for that cause also he cannot be amicus neither now can Scotia be said to be solum amici, as hath been said. "Whatsoever is due by the law or constitution of man may be altered: but natural liegeance or obedience to the sovereign cannot be altered: Ergo, natural liegeance or obedience to the Sovereign is not due by the law or constitution of man. Again, whatsoever is due by the law of nature cannot be altered; but liegeance and obedience

from the subject to the sovereign is due by the law of nature: Ergo, it cannot be altered."

The false positions contained in these arguments are not the less glaring for being delivered under the form of syl logisms. It will be remarked that in each of them the minor is open to exception. The whole of Calvin's case is an excellent specimen of the pedantry with which not only Coke himself, but by far the greater portion of his legal brethren were infected; and if any one would form an opinion of the cumbrous and unprofitable learning with which lawyers in those days were wont to load their discourses, he can do no better than read it in Coke's report. It was an occasion of very great display, as appears by his account of the vast interest excited, and the elaborate discussion it underwent. All the fourteen judges, (there being then five in both the King's Bench and Common Pleas,) with the Lord Chancellor Ellesmere, argued it, apparently at much length, for only two were heard in each of the eight days during two successive Terms that the debate lasted. Every judge took his own course, as Lord Coke informs us; and yet he confesses there was not much difficulty in the case, but that its importance only made the judges of the King's Bench carry it into the Exchequer chamber, where thirteen of the fourteen were, with the chancellor, clear one way. It was evidently made the occasion of an exhibition, a grand legal exercitation, much to the taste of those times. Now, not only is the discussion filled with the most useless and inapplicable learning, but there is really very little that can be called argument in it. Farfetched analogies, quaint allusions, quibbles upon words, quotations from the scripture and from profane authors, both classical and legal, abound in it; but there is a total want of close reasoning upon principle where principles are introduced. Its only value now lies in the remarks made incidentally upon other points of law foreign to the case at bar.

It is impossible to mention this celebrated case without noting the great interest which the argument upon it, especially from the bench, appears to have excited in Westminster Hall, and the enthusiasm with which Lord Coke regards it in his report. He seems quite elevated with conscious satisfac tion and professional pride when he

considers how eminently the judges had distinguished themselves; and speaks as one, not merely relating a very important decision in the law, but as one recording a great triumph of the science and its professors. "It was observed," he says, "that there was not in any remembrance so honourable, great, and intelligent an auditory at the hearing of the arguments of any Exchequer chamber case, as was at this case now adjudged. It appeareth that juris prudentia legis communis Angliæ est scientia socialis et copiosa; sociable, in that it agreeth with the principles and rules of other excellent sciences, divine and humane; copious, for that quamvis ad ea quæ frequentius accidunt jura adaptantur; yet in a case so rare, and of such a quality, that loss is the assured end and practice of it, (for no alien can purchase lands but he loseth them, and ipso facto the king is entitled thereunto, in respect whereof a man would think few men would attempt it,) there should be such a multitude and farrago of authorities in all successions of ages, in our books and book-cases, for the deciding of a point of so rare an accident." This may serve as a specimen of the manner in which Coke's enthusiasm for the law is wont incidentally to display itself in his writings.

Although Lord Coke doubtless reckoned the account of Calvin's case his masterpiece as a reporter, deeming the argument itself the first sample of juridical learning and ingenuity, there are many of his cases in every respect far more worthy of commendation. If one were to be selected for the subtlety of the argument, and indeed the importance of the principles to the law, it perhaps would be that of Shelly; nevertheless, this too is disfigured by very puerile matter. For instance, when to prove that the date of the use must be referred to the recovery suffered, and not to the execution of the use, reference is made to the case of a man while insane giving himself a deadly wound, and afterwards dying while in his senses, which is by many authorities shown not to make him felo de se; a thing so self-evident that we are left in doubt, whether most to admire the serious foolery of those who could gravely discuss and decide it, or of those who could cite it for a purpose so foreign. Perhaps, however, upon the whole, Chudleigh's case may

be taken as the best example of legal acuteness in those who argued it. Although not above twenty years before the case of the Postnati, it should seem that the taste of the bar had been much infected with the growing pedantry of the times during that interval.

If, indeed, we merely look to the merits of the Reports, it is not to any of the great cases, the renowned names, that we should resort. Beside those which have been cited, Corbet's and Mildmay's, Taltarum's, Mary Portington's, Clue's, Albany's, are all more or less open to the charge of prolixity, though very much less liable to it than the more celebrated ones of Shelly and Calvin. But the less pretending ones, which shortly give the resolutions of the court upon certain questions, and with little or no argument beyond what is necessary to explain the decision and its grounds, afford by far the best specimen of the learned reporter's talents for abstracting and recording. Indeed, the vast number of points resolved in these cases, and the generality with which they declare the law independent of peculiar facts, and unincumbered of those circumstances denominated by Lord Eldon specialties, after the language of the Scottish bar, present a most remarkable contrast to the decisions of modern times, wherein it is oftentimes hardly possible to arrive at a rule through the maze of details and qualifications that beset the course of the judgment.

It must not, however, be supposed that every short notice of a case in the Reports is free from learned lumber and extravagance. The case of Swans is little enough in bulk, and trifling enough in import, yet is it sufficiently chequered with nonsense, hardly exceeded by the case of Mares in Scriblerus's Reports. "The truth of the matter was that the Lord Strye had certain swans which were cocks, and Sir J. Charlton certain swans which were hens, and they had cignets between them; and for these cignets the owners did join in one action; for by the law the cignets do belong to both owners in common equally, sc. to the owner of the cock and the owner of the hen, and the cignets shall be divided betwixt them. And the law thereof is formed on a reason in nature, for the cock swan is an emblem or representative of an affectionate and true husband to his wife above all other fowls; for the cock

are often punished; for the frequency. of the punishment makes it so familiar as it is not feared." In the margin we then have "Sta, perlege, plora," and in the text he continues thus: "What a lamentable case it is to see so many Christian men and women strangled on that cursed tree of the gallows; insomuch as if in a large field a man might see together all the Christians, that but in one year throughout England come to that untimely and ignominious death, if there were any spark of grace or charity in him, it would make his heart to bleed for pity and compassion." He then lays down the rules of " preventing justice," and at the head of these he places "the good education of youth." Another is the granting pardons very rarely; and the third, the execution of good laws, though this he deems inferior to education.

Having now adverted to the most conspicuous faults and peculiarities which equally pervade all Coke's writings, it will be proper to give some account of his different works. The first in the order of time was the first part of his Reports, which was published in 1600, while he was attorney-general to Elizabeth. It is entitled " Reports

of Sir Edward Coke, Knight, her majesty's attorney-general, of divers resolutions and judgments given with great deliberation by the reverend judges and sages of the law, of cases and matters in law which were never resolved or adjudged before: and the reasons and causes of the said resoluhappy reign of the most illustrious and tions and judgments, during the most of all justice, and the life of the law.” renowned queen Elizabeth, the fountaine To this report, ten more parts were while he was chief justice of the King's added during his lifetime, the last in 1615, Bench under James I; and after his death two supplementary books of not having been revised by the author them were published. These, however, himself, are not held in such high estimation as those which made their appearance during his lifetime. It has been already stated that on the disgrace of Sir Edward Coke, he was enjoined by the king to pass the summer vacation in correcting his Reports;

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wherein," as James affirmed, "there were many dangerous conceits of his own uttered for law, to the prejudice of his majesty's crown, parliament, and tion, Coke gave in a list of such errors subjects." After three months' deliberaas he had detected; but as they were racies, such as could in nowise supfor the most part merely verbal inaccuagainst him, five special cases were port the charge intended to be brought selected by the king's order for that swered all the objections that could be purpose. Sir Edward, however, anmade against them in such a manner, points in dispute; and, indeed, it appears as to satisfy all who understood the that his legal adversaries, whatever might be their personal enmity towards him, or their deference to the commands of the king, were ashamed of the task Ellesmere, in particular, whose temimposed on them. perate conduct throughout the whole of him, was exceedingly anxious to be exthe proceeding was highly creditable to cused from it. "All that I have done in this," he wrote, " hath been by your majesty's commandment and direction, in presence of all your learned council, vice of your attorney and solicitor. I and by the special assistance and ad

Lord Chancellor

designation, since he was not knighted till after the accession of James I.

This, it will be remarked, is not quite a correct

of the first Institute, though it has undergone some considerable changes since the abolition of the feudal tenures in the reign of Charles II, still remains in many respects the same as it stood in the time of Coke; and his commentary is even now looked upon as one of the most copious and authentic sources of information on the subject. The eighteenth edition of this work was published in 1823, being the sixth which has appeared within the period of thirty years; a convincing proof of the value attached to it by modern lawyers. It may also be considered a testimony of the respect which is borne for Sir Edward Coke and his works, that his Reports, instead of being distinguished from other works of the same nature by the addition of the author's name, are invariably styled The Reports. Indeed, the astonishing acuteness of his mind, his immense stores of legal learning, and his unwearied industry, peculiarly qualified him to go through the arduous task he imposed on himself, in undertaking the various works which have given him a lasting reputation. Had he lived a century later, it is more than probable that the faults with which his writings are disfigured would have been corrected by the style and the spirit of a more polished age; but even with all his imperfections, he can never cease to be regarded, in every point of view, as one of the most illustrious of the numerous celebrated characters that figure in the annals of the English jurisprudence.

The Manuscripts of Lord Coke are in the possession of his descendant, Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, whom we have already mentioned as his representative through the female issue of Lord Leicester, the male heir of the chief justice. At this gentleman's princely mansion of Holkham, is one of the finest collections, or, indeed, libraries of manuscripts anywhere preserved; certainly the finest in any private individual's possession. It partly consists of the chief justice's papers; the rest, and the bulk of it, was collected by that accomplished nobleman who built the mansion, the last male heir of the great lawyer. He had spent many years abroad, where his taste was improved and his general education perfected. He collected a vast number of the most valuable manuscripts. Of these the exquisitely illuminated missals, and other writings of

a similar description, which would from their perfect beauty and great rarity bear the highest price in the market, are certainly by far the least precious in the eyes of literary men. Many of the finest codices of the Greek, Latin, and old Italian classics are to be found in this superb collection. Among others are no less than thirteen of Livy, a favourite author of Lord Leicester, whom he had made some progress in editing, when he learnt that Drakenborchius, the well known German critic, had proceeded further in the same task, and generously handed over to him the treasures of his library. The excellent edition of that commentator makes constant reference to the Holkham manuscripts, under the name of MSS. Lovelliana, from the title of Lovell; Lord Leicester not having then been promoted to the earldom. Mr. Coke, with a becoming respect for the valuable collection of his ancestors, was desirous to have the manuscripts unfolded, bound, and arranged, both with a view to their preservation and to the facility of consulting them. They had lain for half a century neglected, and in part verging towards decay, when he engaged his valued friend, William Roscoe, to undertake the labour so congenial to his taste and habits, of securing these treasures from the ra vages of time. From the great number of the manuscripts, the state in which many of them were, and the distance of Mr. Roscoe's residence, this was necessarily a work of time. After above ten years employed on it, the task is now finished. Each work is beautifully and classically bound; and to each Mr. Roscoe has prefixed, in his own fair handwriting, a short account of the particular manuscript, with the bibliographical learning appertaining to it.

But our present purpose is with the small portion of this collection which descended from Lord Coke. A great part of it is in his own handwriting. There are, among others, the original manuscript of the Book of Entries, and of the Reports, in law French. The student may here enjoy the gratification of reading Shelly's case and Calvin's case in the reporter's own hand. But there are also unpublished works of the same illustrious lawyer and patriot. Among these a curious Statistical Account of England has long been known to antiquaries. Another work, much more valuable, if not written by Lord Coke