第88章

Wingatealso；SheppardquotesPrisot，FinchandWingate；Halecitesnobody；thecourtinWoolston’scaseciteHale；WoodcitesWoolston’scase；BlackstonethatandHale；andLordMansfield，likeHale，venturesitonhisownauthority。Intheearlieragesofthelaw，asintheyear-books，forinstance，wedonotexpectmuchrecurrencetoauthoritiesbythejudges，becauseinthosedaystherewerefewornonesuchmadepublic。Butinlattertimeswetakenojudge’swordforwhatthelawis，furtherthanheiswarrantedbytheauthoritiesheappealsto。Hisdecisionmaybindtheunfortunateindividualwhohappenstobetheparticularsubjectofit；butitcannotalterthelaw。Thoughthecommonlawmaybetermed”LexnonScripta，”yetthesameHaletellsus”whenIcallthosepartsofourlawsLegesnonScriptae，Idonotmeanasifthoselawswereonlyoral，orcommunicatedfromtheformeragestothelattermerelybyword。Forallthoselawshavetheirseveralmonumentsinwriting，wherebytheyaretransferredfromoneagetoanother，andwithoutwhichtheywouldsoonloseallkindofcertainty。Theyareforthemostpartextantinrecordsofpleas，proceedings，andjudgments，inbooksofreportsandjudicialdecisions，intractatesoflearnedmen’sargumentsandopinions，preservedfromancienttimesandstillextantinwriting。”

Hale’sH。c。d。22。Authoritiesforwhatiscommonlawmaythereforebeaswellcited，asforanypartoftheLexScripta，andthereisnobetterinstanceofthenecessityofholdingthejudgesandwriterstoadeclarationoftheirauthoritiesthanthepresent；wherewedetectthemendeavoringtomakelawwheretheyfoundnone，andtosubmitusatonestroketoawholesystem，noparticleofwhichhasitsfoundationinthecommonlaw。ForweknowthatthecommonlawisthatsystemoflawwhichwasintroducedbytheSaxonsontheirsettlementinEngland，andalteredfromtimetotimebyproperlegislativeauthorityfromthattimetothedateofMagnaCharta，whichterminatestheperiodofthecommonlaw，orlexnonscripta，andcommencesthatofthestatutelaw，orLexScripta。Thissettlementtookplaceaboutthemiddleofthefifthcentury。ButChristianitywasnotintroducedtilltheseventhcentury；theconversionofthefirstchristiankingoftheHeptarchyhavingtakenplaceabouttheyear598，andthatofthelastabout686。Here，then，wasaspaceoftwohundredyears，duringwhichthecommonlawwasinexistence，andChristianitynopartofit。Ifiteverwasadopted，therefore，intothecommonlaw，itmusthavebeenbetweentheintroductionofChristianityandthedateoftheMagnaCharta。

ButofthelawsofthisperiodwehaveatolerablecollectionbyLambardandWilkins，probablynotperfect，butneitherverydefective；andifanyonechoosestobuildadoctrineonanylawofthatperiod，supposedtohavebeenlost，itisincumbentonhimtoproveittohaveexisted，andwhatwereitscontents。Theseweresofaralterationsofthecommonlaw，andbecamethemselvesapartofit。ButnoneoftheseadoptChristianityasapartofthecommonlaw。If，therefore，fromthesettlementoftheSaxonstotheintroductionofChristianityamongthem，thatsystemofreligioncouldnotbeapartofthecommonlaw，becausetheywerenotyetChristians，andif，havingtheirlawsfromthatperiodtothecloseofthecommonlaw，weareallabletofindamongthemnosuchactofadoption，wemaysafelyaffirm(thoughcontradictedbyallthejudgesandwritersonearth)thatChristianityneitheris，noreverwasapartofthecommonlaw。Anothercogentproofofthistruthisdrawnfromthesilenceofcertainwritersonthecommonlaw。Bractongivesusaverycompleteandscientifictreatiseofthewholebodyofthecommonlaw。HewrotethisaboutthecloseofthereignofHenryIII。，averyfewyearsafterthedateoftheMagnaCharta。Weconsiderthisbookasthemorevaluable，asitwaswrittenaboutforegivesu