common law of the United States ? In the ear
lier days of the history of law in England, we find
certain laws recognized and in force throughout
more or less extended districts, the origin of
which is obscure. They are generally customs of
immemorial usage grown to be recognized and en
forced as law, They have originated thus as
edicts of kings or enactments of councils or legis
lative bodies, records of which are lost in the ob
scurity of the past. These well established usages
became doubly authenticated by the decision of
judges from the earliest days, modified and en
larged to suit the growth of ideas and the emer-
gencies of advancing civilization. They form the
great body of the English law, finding their au
thority not in parliamentary enactment, but in
their immemorial and continued usage and the
sanction of the courts from the earliest days.
When our ancestors landed on these shores they
brought with them the common law of England,
and adopted it so far as it suited the conditions
of their new life The war of the revolution
grew out of the infractions on the part of the
Government of England of the common law rights
of the colonists, who, although colonists, were
none the less Englishmen, and under the protec
tion of English law and possessors of the rights
of Englishmen. Up to the signing of the Decla
ration of Independence the common law of Eng
land was as much a part of our system of jurispru
dence as it was that of Great Britain. Strictly
speaking the United States has no common law.
The Constitution declares that the judicial power
of the United States extends to all cases arising
under the Constitution, the laws of the United
States and treaties. There was no principle which
prevades the Union and has the authority of law
that is not embodied in the Constitution and Acts
of Congress. However, as the common law was
the substratum on which the Constitution was
founded, we must go to the common law for a
definition and an interpretation of its terms.
All of the States, with 'the exception of Louisian
na,have adopted the English common law as its lo-
THE PRE
E LANCE.
cal law, subject to statutory alterations, and only
to such extent as suits its conditions. This will
effectually answer the complaint of many who
cannot see the necessity in the study of the law
of spending so much time on study of the common
law of England from the Commentaries of Black
stone. When it is remembered that this magnifi
cent body of unwritten laW (so called because in
Its origin not so far as known the subject of legis
lative enactment) was the law of the Colonies prior
to the Revolution, was the birthright for which the
great war for independence was fought, is the
source of the interpretation of our constitution,
our laws and our treaties, in so far as they use
words and expressiotis to which the common law
alone gives a meaning, became the law (subject to
statutory changes) of all but one of the States of
the Union. We are prepared to assign it the
place it deserves in the estimation of the student
—the foremost and best.
COLLEGE ASSOC'LI TIONAIVD FRIEND
The human mind is not capable of omniscence.
It is well established that no one intellect can
grasp comprehensively the entire universe of
knowledge, or even to grapple successfully with
the complete field of any one of the elements in
this complex comoound of cognizance.
And if the mind fails in this propensity, it still
falls short in another; that is the quality to re
ject what the human desires, passions and sympa
thies would cherish. Like the stream which with
in itself has not the power to flow against the.cur
rent, nor' yet can it ignore the passions, sympa
thies and laws of nature and retard the downward
flow.
We were most forcibly and touchingly remind
ed.a few Sabbaths since, that college friendship is
one of these ineradicables.
When we see a rushing, energetic business man
stop and tear himself from the whirlwind of human
WILLIAM C. SPRAGUE, ESQ
SHIPS.