OF JUDICATURE. JUDGES ought to remember that their office is jus dicere, and not "jus dare" — to interpret law, and not to make law, or give law — else will it be like the authority claimed by the church of Rome, which, under pretext of exposition of Scripture, doth not stick to add and alter, and to pronounce that which they do not find, and by show of antiquity to introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue. "Cursed (saith the law) is he that removeth the landmark." The mislayer of a mere stone is to blame; but it is the unjust judge that is the capital remover of landmarks, when he defineth amiss of land and property. One foul sentence doth more hurt than many foul examples; for these do but corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain—so saith Solomon, "Fons turbatus, et vena corrupta est justus cadens in causa sua coram adversario." 2 The office of judges may have a reference unto the parties that sue, unto the advocates that plead, unto clerks and ministers of justice underneath them, and to the sovereign or state above them. First, for the cause of parties that sue. There be (saith the Scripture) "that turn judgment into wormwood;"" and surely there be also that turn it into vinegar; for injustice maketh it bitter, and delays make it sour. The principal duty of a judge is to suppress force and fraud, whereof force is the more pernicious when it is open, and fraud when it is close and disguised. Add thereto con tentious suits, which ought to be spewed out as the surfeit of courts. A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as God useth to prepare his way by raising valleys and taking down hills so when there appeareth on either side a high hand, violent persecution, cunning advantages taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the virtue of a judge seen to make inequality equal; that he may plant his judgment as upon even ground. “Qui fortiter emungit, elicit sanguinem ; and where the wine-press is hard wrought, it yields a harsh wine, that tastes of the grape stone. Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences; for there is no worse torture than the torture of laws; especially 1 Deut. xxvii. 17. 74 2 "A righteous man falling in his cause before his adversary is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring."- Prov. xxv. 26. 3 Amos v. 7. "Who wrings hard draws forth blood."-Cf. Prov. xxx. 33. 1 in case of laws penal, they ought to have care, that that which was meant for terror, be not turned into rigor: and that they bring not upon people that shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, "Pluet super eos laqueos;" for penal laws pressed, are a shower of snares upon the people: therefore let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges confined in the execution: "Judicis officium est, ut res, ita tempora rerum," &c.3 In causes of life and death, judges ought (as far as the law permitteth) in justice to remember mercy, and to cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye upon the person. Secondly, for the advocates and counsel that plead. Patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of justice, and an over-speaking judge is no well-tuned cymbal. It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might have heard in due time from the bar, or to show quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel too short, or to prevent information by questions, though pertinent. The parts of a judge in hearing are four to direct the evidence; to moderate length, repetition, or impertinency of speech; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said; and to give the rule or sentence. Whatsoever is above these is too much, and proceedeth either of glory and willingness to speak, or of impatience to hear, or of shortness of memory, or of want of a stayed and equal attention. It is a strange thing to see that the boldness of advocates should prevail with judges, whereas they should imitate God, in whose seat they sit, who represseth the presumptuous, and giveth grace' to the modest; but it is more strange that judges should have noted favorites, which cannot but cause multiplication of fees and suspicion of byways. There is due from the judge to the advocate some commendation and gracing, 10 where causes are well handled and fair pleaded, especially towards the side which obtaineth not, for that upholds in the client the reputation of his counsel, and beats down in him the conceit" of his cause. There is likewise due to the public a civil reprehension of advocates, where there appeareth cunning counsel, gross neglect, slight information, indiscreet pressing, 1 "He shall rain snares upon them." - Psalm xi. 6. 2 For; during. "It is the duty of a judge to take into consideration the times, as well as the circumstances, of facts."— Ovid, Trist. 1. i. 37. • Psalm cl. 5. 8 From. Conception; apprehension. 6 Forestall. • Grace. 7 Irrelevancy. 11 Opinion. or an over-bold defence. And let not the counsel at the bar chop' with the judge, nor wind himself into the handling of the cause anew, after the judge hath declared his sentence; but, on the other side, let not the judge meet the cause half way, nor give occasion to the party to say his counsel or proofs were not heard. 5 4 Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and ministers. The place of justice is a hallowed place; and therefore not only the bench, but the footpace and precincts, and purprise thereof, ought to be preserved without scandal and corruption; for, certainly, grapes (as the Scripture saith) "will not be gathered of thorns or thistles," neither can justice yield her fruit with sweetness among the briers and brambles of catching and polling clerks and ministers. The attendance of courts is subject to four bad instruments: first, certain persons that are sowers of suits, which make the court swell, and the country pine: the second sort is of those that engage courts in quarrels of jurisdiction, and are not truly "amici curiæ," but "parasiti curiæ," in puffing a court up beyond her bounds for their own scraps and advantages: the third sort is of those that may be accounted the left hands of courts, persons that are full of nimble and sinister tricks and shifts, whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of courts, and bring justice into oblique lines and labyrinths and the fourth is the poller and exacter of fees, which justifies the common resemblance of the courts of justice to the bush, whereunto while the sheep flies for defence in weather, he is sure to lose part of the fleece. On the other side, an ancient clerk, skilful in precedents, wary in proceedings, and understanding in the business of the court, is an excellent figure of a court, and doth many times point the way to the judge himself. Fourthly, for that which may concern the sovereign and estate. Judges ought, above all, to remember the conclusion of the Roman Twelve Tables, "Salus populi suprema lex;" and to know that laws, except they be in order to that end, are but things captious, and oracles not well inspired: therefore it is a happy thing in a state, when kings and states do often consult with judges: and again, when judges do often consult with the king and state: the one, where there is matter of law intervenient " in business of state; the other, when there is some consideration of state intervenient in matter of law; for many times the things deduced to judgment may 1 To bandy words. • Plundering. 7 Plunderer. 2 A lobby. 3 Enclosure. 4 Matt. vii. 16. "Friends of the court," but "parasites of the court. 8 Of great experience. 9 "The safety of the people is the supreme law.". 10 Intervening. FRANCIS BACON. -WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 25 be "meum" and "tuum," when the reason and consequence thereof may trench to point of estate: I call matter of estate, not only the parts of sovereignty, but whatsoever introduceth any great alteration or dangerous precedent: or concerneth manifestly any great portion of people; and let no man weakly conceive that just laws, and true policy, have any antipathy; for they are like the spirits and sinews, that one moves with the other. Let judges also remember, that Solomon's throne was supported by lions on both sides: let them be lions, but yet lions under the throne; being circumspect, that they do not check or oppose any points of sovereignty. Let not judges also be so ignorant of their own right as to think there is not left them, as a principal part of their office, a wise use and application of laws; for they may remember what the apostle saith of a greater law than theirs, "Nos scimus quia lex bona est, modo quis ea utatur legitime.” 3 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon in April, 1564, and died April 23, 1616. It is evident that his townsmen and most of his contemporaries had no idea of his future greatness, and scarcely any accounts of his youth or of the beginning of his literary career have come down to us. It is surprising that all personal recollections of such a man should have disappeared with his generation, and that from the pen of so prolific a writer only his will and three other autographs now remain. Criticism and research have probably done their utmost, and we must be content to study the life of our greatest poet in his works. The only important facts respecting him, which do not rest in part on conjecture, are, that he was educated in the grammar school of his native town, was detected once in deer stealing in the neighboring park of the Lucys, was married while still in his minority, — that he appeared in early manhood as an actor, dramatist, and afterwards manager, in London, where he enjoyed the friendship of Ben Jonson, Drayton, and other men of letters, that he acquired a competency, and retired to Stratford, where he died. He was careless of his fame, and took little pains to have his plays correctly printed, to defend his claims to his own productions, or to disavow the authorship of inferior works falsely attributed to him by booksellers. No specimens of his plays are given in this volume, for reasons stated in the preface. A few sonnets only have been selected; but even these would be sufficient to establish his claim to high rank among poets. The student can have his choice among many excellent editions of Shakespeare. Two very admirable editions have appeared in this country, one edited by Richard Grant White, the other by Rev. H. N. Hudson. [Selected Sonnets.] XVIII. SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day? 21 Kings x. 20. 1 46 "Mine "and "thine." -1 Tim. i. 8. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, XXIX. When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, XXX. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, |