782 V. BENCH AND BAR ones, rather than reheve them when they had done so, may be doubtful. We should have been spared the double condi- tion of things, legal rights and equitable rights, and a system of documents which do not mean what they say. But the piety or love of fees of those who administered equity has thought otherwise, and probably to undo this would be more costly and troublesome than to continue it." And he ad- verts, in Derry v. Peck, 14 App. Cas. 337, to what he con- sidered the mistake made by courts of equity in " disre- garding a valuable general principle in their desire to effect what is, or is thought to be, justice in a particular in- stance." But if he was inclined to lean too much toward the legal as distinguished from the equitable view of rights, he seldom failed to temper his common law views with the good sense which gives to technical rules their just limitations. Bramwell was quick to see the weak side of a case against a railway corporation. This tendency was not, however, an original prejudice, but rather an effort to rectify the injus- tice done by misdirected sympathy for the weaker side. " Let us hold to the law. If we want to be charitable, let us gratify ourselves out of our own pockets" (1891) A. C. 346. The authorities, he said on another occasion, " show a generous struggle on the one hand to make powerful companies liable to individuals, and on the other hand an effort for law and justice. Sometimes one succeeds, sometimes the other, and the cases conflict accordingly" (13 App. Cas. 51). "It does not follow that if a man dies in a fit in a railway car- riage there is a prima facie case for his widow and children, nor that if he has a glass in his pocket and sits on it and hurts himself, there is something which calls for an answer or explanation from the company." Aside, however, from the well-recognized class of cases In which he was known to entertain favorite prepossessions, he was a sound iudgre. As a whole, clearness of perception, strength of judErntent and wide acquaintance with the world of affairs are indelibly stamped upon his work. On many occasions his quick perception, s^ood sense and dry humor were admirable solvents to the doubts and difficulties of his more subtle-minded brethren. A good instance is his char-
