authority, on the whole, supports. On one point (we believe) a learned English judge said, many years ago, that there were then more than 170 authorities. It is most probable that the number is now doubled; and yet, upon this very point, a legislative enactment of three lines might put controversy at rest for ever. Perhaps no man in or out of the legal profession would now doubt what the rule ought to be. The difficulty is, that a rule has either been adopted which works inconveniently in particular cases, or a rule has grown out of a hasty adjudication, which subsequent judicial subtilty has been desirous of escaping from; but it is not easy to do so, without breaking in upon the acknowledged force of the rule. Hence distinctions, nice, and, perhaps, not very satisfactory, are found, as blemishes in some parts of the law, which need the legislative hand to extirpate or correct them. But it has been urged, as has been already incidentally noticed, that it is a great advantage to have law a flexible system, which will yield to the changing circumstances of society; and that a written code gives a permanence to doctrines, which would otherwise be subject to modification, so as to adapt them to the particular character of the times. This objection has been already in part answered. In respect to the common law doctrines, they cannot now changed, whatever may be the changes of society, without some legislative enactment. They furnish a guide to all cases governed by them, until the legislature shall promulgate a new rule. Courts cannot disturb or vary them; and the question of their application to new cases is equally open, whether there be, or be not a code. The legislature can, with the same ease, vary its code as its common law. It can repeal, amend or modify either. But another principal objection is often suggested, and that is, that all the parts of the common law are not in a state susceptible of codification; and that, as we cannot form a complete system of it, one great object of a code must fail. It may be admitted, that some parts of the common law are too imperfectly settled in principles, and too little understood in practice, to allow of any exact codification. But these parts are principally obsolete, or of rare occurrence and application in the common business of life; so that, if they admitted of being reduced to a text, it may be well doubted if they were important enough to deserve it. There are other parts, again, which have be grown up in modern times, which may be admitted to be yet in an immature and forming state, in respect to which, perhaps, it were better to wait the results of experience, than to anticipate them by positive law. Conceding all this, it falls far short of establishing the inutility of a code in other departments of the common law, not open to the like objections. Because we cannot form a perfect system, does it follow that we are to do nothing? Because we cannot, without rashness, give certainty to all possible or probable details of jurisprudence, shall we leave every thing uncertain and open to controversy? There is not a single state of the Union that has not repeatedly revised, changed, and fixed, in a positive code, many of its laws. The criminal code has almost every where received, in some of its principal branches, a methodical form. Virginia, long ago, reduced some important portions of her law to a positive text. New York has recently gone much farther, and, in the form of a revised code, made very extensive alterations in her common law, as well as in her statutable law. England, in our own time, has consolidated the most important heads of her criminal jurisprudence, in a new and methodized text. No man can doubt, that revisions of this sort may be useful, and, indeed, indispensable for the wants and improvements of society, in its progress from one stage to another. The question of more or less is a mere matter of expediency and policy. It is not a little remarkable, that, in England, almost every change in the general structure of her laws, by positive legislation, has, in all ages, met with a similar objection and resistance, and, when once adopted, has been generally, if not universally satisfactory. But there are many branches of the common law which can, without difficulty, be reduced to a positive text. Their main principles are embodied in treatises, accurate and full, and there can be no want of learned men ready to form an outline of them for the consideration of the legislature. Our commercial law is generally in this state. The law of bills of exchange and promissory notes, of insurance, of shipping and navigation, of partnership, of agency and factorage, of sales, of bailments, and many kindred titles, admits of codification to a very high degree of certainty; and yet, in these branches, there is still room enough to controvert particular decisions and authorities, to make it desirable to give a positive sanction to the better doctrine, and thus to save the profession from laborious researches, and the public from expensive litigation. The ordinance of Louis XIV, on commercial law, dried up a thousand sources of disputation; and the present code of commerce of France has settled, in a positive manner, most of the questionable points, which had been found unprovided for by that ordinance, and were resigned to judicial decision in the intermediate period. Besides, a code furnishes the only safe means of incorporating qualifications upon a general principle, which experience has demonstrated to be proper and politic. Courts often lament that a principle is established in too broad terms for the public good, and yet do not feel themselves at liberty to interpose exceptions which the principle does not sanction. This article has already spread out into a great length, and must now be closed. The result of the whole view, as to codes, is, that neither the friends nor the opponents of them are wholly right in their doctrines or their projects; that, in every civilized country, much may be done to simplify the principles and practice of the law by judicious codification, and to give it uniformity and certainty; that How much ought to be done? is a question not admitting of any universal response, but is, or may be, different as to different countries, or, in different ages, as to the same country; that every code, to be useful, must act upon the existing institutions and jurisprudence, and not, generally, supersede them; that what, with reference to the customs, habits, manners, pursuits, interests, and institutions of one country, may be fit and expedient, may be wholly unfit and inexpedient for another; and that the part of true wisdom is, not so much to search out any abstract theory of universal jurisprudence, as to examine what, for each country in particular, may best promote its substantial interests, preserve its rights, protect its morals, and give permanence to its liberties. LANCASTER COUNTY, the richest and most fertile in Pennsylvania, contains, at present, 27 townships. Its population, in 1810, was 53,927; in 1820, 68,358; in 1830, 76,558. It contains 7 furnaces, 14 forges, 183 distilleries, 45 tan-yards, 22 fulling-mills, 164 grist-mills, 8 hempmills, 87 saw-mills, 9 breweries, 5 oilmills, 5 clover-mills, 3 cotton factories, 3 potteries, 6 carding-machines, 3 paper mills, 1 snuff-mill, 7 tilt-hammers, and 6 rolling-mills. LANCASTER; a city of Pennsylvania, 13 mile west of Conestoga creek, which falls into the Susquehanna, 62 miles west of Philadelphia; lon. 76° 10′ W.; lat. 40° 3 N. Population, in 1810, 5405; in 1820, 6663; in 1830, 7684; was laid out in 1730. It is a pleasant, healthy and flourishing city, finely situated in a fertile, highly cultivated and delightful country. The houses are chiefly built of brick and stone. The town has an extensive trade with the surrounding country. The inhabitants are mostly of German descent, and the German language is spoken by many of them; but the English predominates, and most parents give their children an English education. The banks are 3. The churches and places of public worship are 11;-2 German Lutheran, 1 German Reformed, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopalian, 1 Roman Catholic, 1 United Brethren, 1 Methodist, 1 African, 1 Friends' meeting, 1 Independent Methodist. There is an academy with a classical and English departments; a seminary, on the plan of mutual instruction, in which 500 children of both sexes are instructed in English, and several private schools and academies. Franklin college was founded in 1787. It has a large brick building and some funds, but is not in operation. There are two libraries, a reading room, several charitable and religious societies, and a museum. Eight newspapers are published in English, and four in German. There are 17 distilleries, 4 tan-yards, 5 breweries, and 2 potteries. Lancaster was early celebrated for the excellence of its stockings, saddles, and guns, and is still famous for its rifles, and the number and excellence of the stage-coaches built here. LEE, Francis Lightfoot, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, was born in Virginia, October 14, 1734. His education was directed by a private tutor, and he inherited an independent fortune. In 1765, he became a member of the house of burgesses of Virginia, and continued in that body until 1775, when the convention of Virginia chose him a member of the continental congress, in which he remained until 1779, when he entered the legislature of Virginia. He died at Richmond, in 1797. CONTENTS. Induction (in logic) Catholic system) Indus, or Sindh.. Infallibility. Infant (in law) Schools (see Schools). Infantado (duke of). Inferiæ (in Roman antiquities) Infinitesimals (see Calculus). Inflammation of the Intes- tines (see Enteritis). Inflexion (Point of) Infula. Page. Ingemann (Bernhard Severin) Injections (in surgery and ... Kentucky Canals "Inn Louisiana Canals Inns- Pox, "Insanity (see Mental Derange- 66 12 Inscription (in archæology). 13 Insects (in natural history) "Insolvency (see Bankrupt) "Instinct Institute (the National) "Insurrection (see Revolution) 15 Intaglios (see Gem Sculpture) "Integral (see Calculus).". "Irenæus (St.). "Iriarte, or Yriarte (Thomas d')" "Iris " -- Flag, or Flower de Luce. " |