men, to be acquainted with many branches of the law, which are almoſt peculiar and appropriated to themſelves alone. Such are the laws relating to advowſons, inſtitutions, and inductions; to ſimony, and ſimoniacal contracts; to uniformity, reſidence, and pluralities; to tithes and other eccleſiaſtical dues; to marriages (more eſpecially of late) and to a variety of other ſubjects, which are conſigned to the care of their order by the proviſions of particular ſtatutes. To underſtand theſe aright, to diſcern what is warranted or enjoined, and what is forbidden by law, demands a ſort of legal apprehenſion; which is no otherwiſe to be acquired than by uſe and a familiar acquaintance with legal writers.
For the gentlemen of the faculty of phyſic, I muſt frankly own that I ſee no ſpecial reaſon, why they in particular ſhould apply themſelves to the ſtudy of the law; unleſs in common with other gentlemen, and to complete the character of general and extenſive knowlege; a character which their profeſſion, beyond others, has remarkably deſerved. They will give me leave however to ſuggeſt, and that not ludicrouſly, that it might frequently be of uſe to families upon ſudden emergencies, if the phyſician were acquainted with the doctrine of laſt wills and teſtaments, at leaſt ſo far as relates to the formal part of their execution.
But thoſe gentlemen who intend to profeſs the civil and eccleſiaſtical laws in the ſpiritual and maritime courts of this kingdom, are of all men (next to common lawyers) the moſt indiſpenſably obliged to apply themſelves ſeriouſly to the ſtudy of our municipal laws. For the civil and canon laws, conſidered with reſpect to any intrinſic obligation, have no force or authority in this kingdom; they are no more binding in England than our laws are binding at Rome. But as far as theſe foreign laws, on account of ſome peculiar propriety, have in ſome particular caſes, and in ſome particular courts, been introduced and allowed by our laws, ſo far they oblige, and no farther; their authority being wholly founded upon that permiſſion and adoption. In which we are not ſingular in our notions: for even in Holland, where the
