One of Mr. Gladstone's very best acts was the appointment
of Mr. Bryce to the Professorship of Civil Law at Oxford. We -already witness the effects of appointing a young and singularly able lawyer to this important post. Mr. Bryce's inaugural lec- ture was not only very remarkable in itself, but was also worthy of special note as practically re-establishing in the University the -study of Roman Law. It may seem to the public of little conse-quence that twenty or thirty gentlemen should study Justinian ; but if Oxford can produce a school of jurists, it is possible that -the time may come when we may possess a body of lawyers -capable of reducing our chaos of case law and statutes to a clear and intelligible form. Mr. Bryce, at any rate, shows that he fully understands that to achieve this is what all scientific students of law should set before them as their object.
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