[Delivered before the Hamilton Literary Association, October 30, 1871,]
GENTLEMEN :—
Your kind invitation to direct you in your proposed investigation of the principles of the civil law, so courteously communicated by your Committee, has afforded me very great pleasure. Though its acceptance imposes upon me very great labor in addition to that demanded by my practice in the courts, I shall undertake it con amore. The invitation comes from one of the oldest and best literary societies in the land and is therefore an honor I highly prize. It comes from you, my brethren of . the Hamilton, and is an expression of confidence I shall never, forget and shall endeavor to deserve.
But there is still another reason for my acceptance which may not be without interest to you. In the Spring of 1860 at the close of the winter semester at the Carl Ruperta University at Heidelberg I called upon my Professor, the late Dr. Carl von Vangerow, to bid him adieu. He received me with the utmost kindness, showed me some new English works he had received upon the civil law and at parting, with a genuine hearty German shake of the hand, said referring to the study in which I had been engaged, “Lassen Sie es nicht ganz liegen”—do not wholly neglect it. This injunction from my lamented master I have ever regarded as a sacred trust held for the benefit of my countrymen who for lack of time or money are unable to prosecute their legal studies in Europe and which your invitation affords me an opportunity partly to discharge.
I shall discuss this evening under the general head of “The Study of the Civil Law”
- I. The utility of an acquaintance with the civil law to the American lawyer and layman;
- II. The method pursued in the best law schools in Europe with special reference to German Universities.
The first question which the American puts to one proposing a new project whether it be a novelty in mechanics, the passage of a new statute,
a change in the mode of election or the undertaking of a new study is What is the use? or cui bono I am confronted by this query at the
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