20. VEEDER: A CENTURY OF JUDICATURE 795 of insight; and, far from being detrimental to judicial thought, surely no quality could be more desirable in the administration of the law than the intellectual and imag- inative insight which goes to the heart of things and ex- presses in perfect form a rule for future guidance. The luminous effect of Cairns' imagination may be observed to splendid advantage in the case of Gardner v. London, etc., Ry., 2 Ch. App. 201, on the vexed question of the relative rights and obligations of railway companies and their de- benture holders. The briefs of counsel on either side will indicate the doubt and conflict of opinion in which the sub- ject was involved. Cairns' solution of the problem by ref- erence to a going concern as a " fruit-bearing tree " is highly imaginative, and was so convincing that further dis- cussion ceased. In the vibration case of Hammersmith Ry. V. Brand, 4 E. & I. App. 215, involving the right to recover for damage incident to authorized acts, he failed for once to convince his colleagues. Probably his most important contributions to the law lie within the domain of company aflfairs. But they are scarcely superior to his judgments in cases of contract. One of his most original contributions to jurisprudence is his series of decisions as arbitrator in the complicated affairs of the Albert Insurance Company. This company was the final result of various financial trans- formations, and many of the claims against it turned upon the doctrine of novation. Cairns took an advanced position with respect to the assent of the debtor to novation, justify- ing his position by considerations drawn from the rapidly changing nature of commercial transactions in the present day.^ As a law reformer he was the worthy successor of
- See Cairns' Decisions in the Albert Insurance Company Arbitration,
1870-'72, particularly Kennedy's case, p. 5. Following is a full list of Cairns' most important opinions: Company law — Erlanger v. Phosphate Co., 3 App. Cas. 1234; Ashbury Ry. Co. v. Ritchie, 7 E. & I. App. Cas. 663; Peek v. Gurney, 6-402; Reese Mining Co., V. Smith, 4-77; Houldsworth v. Evans, 3-263; In re Reese Silver Mining Co., 2-604; Gardner v. London, C. & D. Ry., 2 Ch. App. 201; Hoole V. Gt. Western Ry. 3-262; Princess of Reusse v. Bos. 5 E. & I. App. 199; Evans v. Smallcombe, 3-249; Gillespie v. Glasgow Bank, 4 App. Cas. 636. Contracts — Cundy v. Lindsay, 3 App. Cas. 463; Rossiter v. Miller, 3- 1129; Hussey v. Home-Payne, 4-316; Brogden v. Metropolitan Ry. Co.,
