THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. THE object of this work is to encourage in law students a study of the first principles of the law, without a knowledge of which all other is useless; and, with that object, its chief professed merit is, simplicity of arrangement. The student must not suppose that, because the number of maxims specially considered and explained in the first part of the work amounts to 100 only, and the number of those in the second part to which translations are given, to 700 only, he must search elsewhere for other maxims to assist him in his legal studies. He may rest assured that the two parts of the work, small as it may appear, contain all those maxims or rules of law which are necessary to enable him to obtain a perfect knowledge of the first principles of the laws and constitution of this country, and by which alone he can obtain such knowledge. He may rest assured, also, that all others are but part and parcel of these, though their number be legion. Nor should it be omitted to be stated, that the student must not suppose that these maxims are mere obsolete Latin phrases, referring to bygone days, having no applicability to the law as now administered in this country; or that, being so applicable, they are so only as to some general principles too theoretical to be of service to a modern practitioner; but, let him be assured, that they are of every day use and application, and of absolute necessity in the consideration of each |