ART. XII.-RECENT ALTERATIONS IN CONVEYANCING FORMS. 1. An Act to simplify the Transfer of the Property (7 & 8 Vict. c. 76.). Royal Assent, 6th August, 1844. 2. Outlines of a Plan for adapting the Machinery of the Public Funds to the Transfer of Real Property, re- spectfully inscribed to the President and Council of the Society for promoting the Amendment of the Law. ART. XIV. - THE LAW OF BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY. An Act to amend the Law of Insolvency, Bankruptcy, The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, with Selections from his Correspondence. By HORACE - 1. Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider of the Bill for the better Administration of Justice in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and to ex- tend its Jurisdiction and Powers. Session 1844. 2. Thoughts on the Law of Divorce in England. By ROBERT PHILLIMORE, Advocate in Doctors' Commons, and Barrister of the Middle Temple. 1844. 1. Principles of the Law of Real Property, intended as a First Book for the Use of Students in Conveyancing. By JOSHUA WILLIAMS, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister- 2. Concise Precedents in Conveyancing adapted to the Act for simplifying the Transfer of Property, (7 & 8 Vict. c. 76.) with Practical Notes. By CHARLES David- A Bill entitled, "An Act to amend and consolidate the Criminal Law of England so far as relates to the Defi- nition of Indictable Offences and the Punishment • 466 THE LAW REVIEW. ART.I-SCIENCE AND STUDY OF JURISPRUDENCE. It seems difficult, in casting our eye over the map of the sciences, not to place Jurisprudence in the highest rank, if we do not, indeed, allow it the first place. None requires more enlarged understandings, more sagacious minds, in its cultivators; none draws its materials from more various sources; none assumes for its successful study an ampler body of knowledge, whether of books or of men: but above all, its importance to the interests of mankind is beyond that of every other branch of learning; it is more eminently practical than any; its concern is with the whole order, the peace, and the happiness of society. If it be alleged that we thus place it above morals, the answer is plain, — Jurisprudence belongs to that great division of science; and not only does it form by far the most important portion of moral science, but it is the point to which all the rest converge, the application of those speculative doctrines to use. Nor can it be urged that the labours of those who instruct mankind in their duties, of the teachers of moral lessons, rank higher than the labours of the jurist, in practical value, when we reflect how little their exertions could ensure virtuous or even innocent conduct were they not backed by the sanctions of positive law, and their lectures enforced by the action of human tribunals. In truth we have only to consider what is the great end of society, the object for which men congregate in bodies, and frame plans of polity to govern them and to protect them. The conservation of rights, the security of life and of property, is the purpose of this union; and to obtain that inestimable blessing, natural liberty is cheerfully sacrificed. Now Jurisprudence is the science which teaches how those rights may be preserved, that security obtained; and consequently it really instructs us in that which forms at once the object and the bond of the social system; it is eminently the social science. It might at first sight be supposed that the peculiar circumstances of different races of men, different occupations in which their industry was engaged, and different structures of government under which they lived, would render any general principles inapplicable to all cases, and, requiring a different legal system for each, would also require a different juridical science. And no doubt these diversities must occasion varieties in the detail, materially affecting the application of any general principles. Nevertheless, that there are such principles, that they run through all systems of law, and that they constitute a science not various and multifarious but one, and universal, is beyond dispute. It is true that the lawgiver in any state must consider the subjects he has to rule, their habits and pursuits, the polity established among them, in framing his general rules for their guidance and governance. But it is equally true that this very consideration, this adaptation of the laws to circumstances, is connected with general principles, and so becomes the subject of scientific inquiry; and it is equally true that there are many principles which are quite universal in their application; many virtues which laws must possess to be useful, and many vices which they must shun to avoid being hurtful, in whatever country they are enacted, for whatever people they are framed. The general division of the subject is now to be traced, and it is applicable to all laws, all systems of Jurisprudence. But first we must consider the most general distribution of all, because that divides Jurisprudence itself into two kinds. Laws may relate either to the subjects of states, or to states themselves; to the community consisting of individuals, or to the community consisting of nations: to countries, as England, France, Germany, Italy, or to all nations, that is, to the country whereof England, France, Germany, Italy, are members. The law which rules and protects the subjects of each individual country, dealing with their relations towards each other as members of the same community, subject to the |