dertaken. The knowlege of our laws and conſtitution was adopted as a liberal ſcience by general academical authority; competent endowments were decreed for the ſupport of a lecturer, and the perpetual encouragement of ſtudents; and the compiler of the enſuing commentaries had the honour to be elected the firſt Vinerian profeſſor.
In this ſituation he was led, both by duty and inclination, to inveſtigate the elements of the law, and the grounds of our civil polity, with greater aſſiduity and attention than many have thought it neceſſary to do. And yet all, who of late years have attended the public adminiſtration of juſtice, muſt be ſenſible that a maſterly acquaintance with the general ſpirit of laws and the principles of univerſal juriſprudence, combined with an accurate knowlege of our own municipal conſtitutions, their original, reaſon, and hiſtory, hath given a beauty and energy to many modern judicial deciſions, with which our anceſtors were wholly unacquainted. If, in the purſuit of theſe inquiries, the author hath been able to rectify any errors which either himſelf or others may have heretofore imbibed, his pains will be ſufficiently anſwered: and, if in ſome points he is ſtill miſtaken, the candid and judicious reader will make due allowances for the difficulties of a ſearch ſo new, ſo extenſive, and ſo laborious.
