is the proper accompliſhment of every gentleman and ſcholar; an highly uſeful, I had almoſt ſaid eſſential, part of liberal and polite education. And in this I am warranted by the example of antient Rome; where, as Cicero informs us[1], the very boys were obliged to learn the twelve tables by heart, as a carmen neceſſarium or indiſpenſable leſſon, to imprint on their tender minds an early knowlege of the laws and conſtitutions of their country.
But as the long and univerſal neglect of this ſtudy, with us in England, ſeems in ſome degree to call in queſtion the truth of this evident poſition, it ſhall therefore be the buſineſs of this introductory diſcourſe, in the firſt place to demonſtrate the utility of ſome general acquaintance with the municipal law of the land, by pointing out it’s particular uſes in all conſiderable ſituations of life. Some conjectures will then be offered with regard to the cauſes of neglecting this uſeful ſtudy: to which will be ſubjoined a few reflexions on the peculiar propriety of reviving it in our own univerſities.
And, firſt, to demonſtrate the utility of ſome acquaintance with the laws of the land, let us only reflect a moment on the ſingular frame and polity of that land, which is governed by this ſyſtem of laws. A land, perhaps the only one in the univerſe, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and ſcope of the conſtitution[2]. This liberty, rightly underſtood, conſiſts in the power of doing whatever the laws permit[3]; which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to thoſe equitable rules of action, by which the meaneſt individual is protected from the inſults and oppreſſion of the greateſt. As therefore every ſubject is intereſted in the preſervation of the laws, it is incumbent upon every man to be acquainted with thoſe at leaſt, with which he is immediately concerned; leſt he incur the cenſure, as well as inconvenience, of living in ſociety without knowing the obligations which it lays him under. And thus much
