THE POETRY OF LEADING LAW CASES.

AVERY entertaining little volume of "Leading Cases done into English, by an Apprentice of Lincoln's Inn," has just been reprinted by Messrs. Macmillan from the Pall Mall Gazette,

where, no doubt, many of them have already won the respectful attention of some of our readers ; and the thin octavo appears in the orthodox buff raiment of the volumes favoured by legal authorities. The humorous effect consists, of course, partly in the contrast between the legal subtleties themselves and the assumed passion of their setting, and partly in the quaintness of the pictures called up of carpenters entering an alehouse, and refusing to pay the score demanded, or of public carriers who have taken charge of goods for hire, or of chimney-sweeps who have been cheated out of their legitimate "finds," and so forth, —pictures iii which the lawyers of the old world, with all their stately parade of learning, are summoned before the mind's eye to decide the legal position of these homely personages, so far as they illustrate the nature of trespass, the duties of bailees of goods committed to their charge, the scope of the action for trover, and so on. In accomplishing this artistic feat, the versifier of these 'leading cases' has been most successfuL He has sur- rounded his legal distinctions with a halo of mock passion which is in itself in the highest degree entertaining, especially when the style of the different modern poets is so admirably hit off that the cloud of associations which hangs round one of Mr. Swinburne's, or Mr. Rossetti's, or Mr. Browning's, or Mr. Clough's, or Mr. Tennyson's poems is summoned up to set off the mock tender- ness or mock patriotism of the strain itself. And in the next place, the quaint detail of the pictures themselves, of the six carpenters charged with trespass for entering a place where (after a very moderate meal) they refused to pay the full score demanded of them ; or of the chimney-sweep who, on presenting the valuable ring he had found, to a jeweller, is cheated by that jeweller's assistant out of the valuable stones it contained ; or of the agent who had undertaken to raise certain hogsheads of brandy

from a certain cellar and deposit them safely- in another cellar, and who had discharged his duty so negligently that one of the casks was staved in, and a good deal of brandy spilt, is so humorously given, that the importance of the legal. points decided in relation to them makes a kind of picturesque triumphal arch over these tab/eauz rivants of the Law.

For instance, what can be happier than this setting to the lead- ing case of the Six Carpenters, and the action for trespass brought against them ?—

" This case befell at four of the clock (now listeneth what I shall say),

and the year was the seventh of James the First, on a fine September day.

The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low, what trespass shall be ab initio.

It was Thomas Newman and five his feres (three more would have made them nine), and they entered into John Vaux's house,

that had the Queen's Head to sign. The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low, what trespass-shall bar ab initio.

They called anon for a quart of wine (they were carpenters all by trade), and they drank about till they drank it cart, and when they had drunk they paid. The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low, what trespass shall be ab One spoke this word in John Ridding's ear (white manchets are sweet and fine): 'Fair sir, we are fain of a penn'orth of bread and another quart of wine.'

The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,

what trespass shall be ab initio.

Fall lightly thereof they did eat and drink (to drink is iwis no blame).

'Now tell me eight pennies,' cinoth Master Vaux ; but they would not pay the same.

The birds on the bough sing load and sing low, what trespass shall be ab Ye have trespassed with force and arms, ye knaves (the six be too strong for me),

but your tedious entry shall cost you dear, and that the King's Court shall see.

The birds on the bough sing loud and nought low, your trespass was wrought ab initio.'

&d per totam euriam 'twas well resolved

(note, reader, this difference) that in mere not doing no trespass is, and John Vaux went empty thence.

The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,

no trespass was here ab initio."

The burden itself is very happy. The notion of the birds on the bough interesting themselves so deeply in the nature of a trespass from its initial stage, as to sing loud and low on the subject, gives a background of playful satire to this leading case from the beginning. And when detail is so gravely cited in the margin, on occa- sion of the order for the second quart of wine and a pennywortk of bread,—" et semble que ceo eat mervellous petit manger et bever pur vj. homes,"—you feel the same sort of amusement in the picture of this primmval determination of the law of trespass; as when you trace back the origin of the human animal to the time when, as some kindred (can it be the same?) poet described it :—

In the-day's high meridian, the hour of the fullness of time, Came forth the °let t, the Ascidian, from the conflict of sea and of slime ; And defying Fate's malice, that mocks us, there swam on the waters of power,

A land of new-life, Amphioxns, full blossom of vertebrate flower."

Whether the fiction of the birds interesting themselves and their mates in the law of trespass, or the delightful contrast between

the simplicity of the six carpenters' proceeding in "asking," but

refusing to pay "for more," and the plaintiff's very strained hypo- thesis that their entry on the premises had been forceful and " tortions," so as to constitute a trespass, gives the greater air of satiric completeness to the picture, it would be hard to say. The second of the leading cases, " Coggs v. Bernard," which is given in the form of a judgment from Chief Justice Holt, is a very skilful parody on the style of the iambic speeches in Mr. Swinburne's Greek dramas, but it falls a little short of the one we have just given, and of some of the others, in the clearness of its state- ment of the legal points at issue. We do not suppose that any one would exactly go to this amusing little volume for

legal knowledge, and it is not from that point of view that we make our criticism. But half the literary pleasure is given by the quaint embedding of these minute legal niceties in verse which has so many other and such very different associations, and this "Apprentice of Lincoln's Inn" is always happiest when he sticks most conscientiously to his legal point,

while embodying it in verse that fills one's soul with laughter. The point which arose in " Coggs v. Bernard" was one as to the obli- gations of different kinds of bailees of goods, and we cannot say we think the relative weight of legal responsibility in the different cases is very lucidly stated by Chief Justice Holt, in the follow- ing admirably Erechtheus-like speech :—

" Such a sixfold coil

Of divers sorts of bailments, binding men With diverse powers to manifold degrees Of vigilance and answerable care, Is woven and shed around him as a net Inevitable, whose woof of ancient wit I, first of all men born in all this land, Shall now in seemly wise with ordered speech Spread forth, and through this undistinguished field Drive the clean ploughshare of dividing mind, Ox-wise returning to and fro, till all Be ready for the seed that springs to fruit- Of judgment ; and the first is whore a man Hath taken goods to wait the bailor's use Hireless, in unrewarded custody And bare deposit ; he shall safely walk Blameless in equal ways, preserving them With equal care like as he doth his own, Be it or great or small; but negligence, Gross and apparent, seeing an evil mind Therein we deem to work his own effect Of fraud and malice, to the utmost loss Shall surely bind him; such not doubtful voice Of witness clear and consonant is poured In ears made meet for hearing from this book Of Braeton, who, being old, yet speaketh law Most righteous; nor this once, but twice and thrice He speaketh, meting fitting measure of care To loans gratuitous and commodate, Or else for hire, demanding diligence Most strait and perfect ; the next case is fourth In several station that with borrowed pledge And pawn invadiate holds the middle way Not facile as the first, not stern to seek Consummate care, whose weight and whole recoil Even now with one fifth wave of forceful need Falls on that carrier who for all men's use Doth exorcise his calling, being bound In all events against all jeopardies, Yea, though an irresistible multitude With might of hands and violent mastery Should make his freight their quarry ; what sheer stress Of the land's embattled foemen, or the act Of most high Gods bath wrought of ruin, shall rest Excusable, that only; but who takes Like trust by private and peculiar hand, Having reward, shall bear the lighter charge Fulfilled and perfeot in such measure of care As reason bids; and lo, the sixth of kind Of these folk holden of six necessities Is this rewardless one who holdeth goods In simple mandate; and on him no less His undertaking, and the owner's trust Clothing his promise with investiture Of apt consideration, lay the load Of diligence in duty, that thereby The sure sweet oommon faith of man to man Shall lighten level from,eyen to equal eyes

Of one to other, not being desecrate

In desolate places and dispraised of men."

The parody there is admirable, far better than the statement of the law, but in the fidelity of the legal exposition a great part of the humour of these cases consists. And therefore, we prefer, to this case, the excellent hexameters (suggestive of Clough), in which the case of "Elwes v. Mawe " is expounded, and the tenant's right to remove at the end of his tenancy the farm-buildings which he had erected at his own expense, for his own purposes, on his landlord's soil, is authoritatively denied, the distinction being taken between machinery which, to favour trade, the capitalist who puts it up is allowed to take away again when his tenancy is out, and the farm-buildings which cannot be so removed so as to advantage trade, while the loss of it would injure the interests of the land, for the benefit of which it was erected :— " Counsel for Elwes and Mawe stood forth and strove with examples, Showing what things in old time were esteemed ingrown to the freehold,

Rooted past lawful removal, what kept their moveable nature. Mach they debated of waingoot and window, of furnace and oven, Vats of the dyer, and cider-mills, and boilers and salt-pans; Also, not least, a new thing, fire-engine, a blessing to coal-mines. Twice in two terms they strove, and the court considered its judgment, Judgment which afterwards, well advised, the Chief Justice delivered, Stated the case and the question, and spoke their considered opinion ; No right had the defendant, they held, to remove these buildings. Wisely he showed how the general rule bids cleave to the freehold Things by the tenant once fixed, and explained the -divers exceptions Suffered in favour of trade, the furnace, the vats, and the boilers, Also the new fire-engines, the cider-mills, and the salt-pans; Ever in favour of trade such exceptions, no mention of farming ; Further to stretch the exception to mere agricultural buildings, Not for a certain trade, were great and rash innovation. Wherefore Elwes, the shrewd, maintained his cause and his verdict, Had great worship of all men there, and went homeward rejoicing, Bearing the poste; goodly-engrossed, the prize of the battle."

How anxiously and accurately legal, as well as how mischievous in the prick it gives to the tenant-farmer, as a person whom the law declines specially to consider, is that very Cloughish line,— " Ever in favour of trade such exceptions, no mention of farm- ing," and how profound the scorn in the "mere agricultural buildings !"

The dedication to John Stiles (on whom the "Apprentice of Lincoln's Inn "gives us the following amusing note) is written in the happiest of Mr. Swinburne's rhapsodical moods :— " This J. S. is a mythical person, introduced for the purposes of illus- tration, and constantly met with in the older books of our law, especially Sheppard's Touchstone: a kind of cousin to John Doe and Richard Roe, but more active and versatile. In later works and in the Indian Codes his initials, which are supposed to stand for John Stiles, have degenerated into unmeaning, solitary letters, such as A, B, and C. The old books are full of grants of lands to him for various estates, so that his wealth is evident. He also appears as a trustee and arbitrator, and (incongruously) as a servant. His devotion to Rome is shown by his desperate attempts to get there in three days: 'If J. S. shall go to Rome in three days' is the standing example of an impossible oondition. 'if' or until J. S. shall return from Rome' is also a frequent example of a condition or conditional limitation : hence the importance of that event is obvibnaly not exaggerated by the poet. It is not clear why he did not want to ride to Dover, seeing it was on the way to Rome. It is said, however, that one who is bound in a bond with condition that he shall ride with J. S. to Dover such a day must procure J. S. to go thither and ride with him at his peril. .Aultis Agerius and Rumoring Negidins are corresponding, and therefore rival, personages of the Civil Law, who may be found in the Digest and Institutes. It is understood that the revival of the study of Roman Law by the Inns of Court is to be commemorated in the decoration of the new Law Courts by colossal statues of Antos Agerius and Numerius Negidins trampling an the corpses of John Doe and Richard Roe respectively."

That itself is humorous enough, but the rhapsody on "J. S." is still more brilliant, and one of the most perfect parodies in our language :— " DEDICATION TO J. S.

"When waters are rent with commotion Of storms, or with sunlight made whole, The river still pours to the ocean The stream of its effluent soul ; Yon, too, from all lips of all living Of worship disthroned and diserowned, Shall know by these gifts of my giving That faith is yet found ; By the sight of my song-flight of cases That bears on wings woven of rhyme Names set for a sign in high places By sentence of men of old time ; From all counties they meet and they mingle, Dead suitors whom Westminster saw ; They are many, but your name is single, Pure flower of pare law.

When bounty of grantors was gracious To enfeoff you in foe and in tail, The bounds of your lands were made spacious With lordship from Sale unto Dale ; Trusts had you and services loyal, Lips sovereign for ending of strife, And the name of the world's names most royal For light of your life.

Ah desire that was urgent to Romeward And feet that were swifter than fate's, And the noise of the speed of them homeward For mutation and fall of estates!

Ah the days when your riding to Dover Was prayed for and precious as gold, The journeys, the deeds that are over, The praise of them told.

But the days of your reign are departed, And our fathers that fed on your looks Have begotten a folk feeble-hearted That seek not your name in their books; And against you is risen a new Leeman To storm with strange engines your home; We wax pale at the name of him Roman, His coming from Rome.

Even she, the immortal imperious, Supreme one from days long ago, Sends the spectre of Aulus Egerins To hound the dead ghost of John Doe ; By the name of Rumoring Negidius Your brethren are slain without sword ; Is it so, that she, too, is perfidious, The Rome you adored ?

Yet I pour you this drink of my versos, Of learning made lovely with lays, Song bitter and sweet that rehearses The deeds of your eminent days : Yea, in these evil days from their reading Some profit a student shall draw, Thongh some points are of obsolete pleading, And some are not law.

Though the Courts that were manifold dwindle To divers Divisions of one, And no fire from your face may rekindle The light of old learning undone, We have suitors and briefs for our payment, While, so long as a Court shall hold pleas, We talk moonshine with wigs for our raiment, Not sinking the fees."

As regards_ parody, the least happy is, we think, the one on Tennyson, " Wiggleaworth v. Dallison," though it would be hard to give in verse a better account of the lawsuit and theissue. Perhaps Mr. Tennyson's easy and yet full-mouthed style does not tickle the apprentice of Lincoln's Inn as quite so ludicrous in connection with a law-suit as the style of Swinburne, or Browning, or Rossetti's antique ballads, or even Clough. Certainly the case of "Scott v. Shepherd," as related by "any Pleader to any student," in the beat and brusquest possible Browningese, and the case of " Mostyn v. Fabrigas," a case of action for trespass for a wrong done in the island of Minorca by the Governor of the said island, the action being brought in the English Courts, where the Governor

supposed that no action would lie for a trespass done beyond the seas, the account of it being given in one of the happiest imitations of the old ballad literature which we have ever seen, are narrated with a skill in combining the study of law points, with racy parody on poetic style, such as has hardly been surpassed. On the whole, we think the antique ballad style suits these cases better than any other poetic setting. There is a gossipiness in the old ballads which reminds one of the gossipiness of the old lawyers, and the two, skilfully connected, make what is more like a real and racy work of art than any of the more obvious parodies. The latter are satirical, but these old ballads on law cases have almost the effect of old-fashioned poems written in good faith ; and the quaintness of effect so produced gives more pleasure than any parody.