SECTION 192. General division of crimes 193. Crimes affecting the public welfare INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW. PART I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. LECTURE I. STUDY OF THE LAW. (a) § 1. Difficulties to be overcome. The course of lectures to which this is introductory, is intended to comprehend the rudiments of American law. I say rudiments, because I am persuaded that nothing beyond principles strictly elementary, can be profitably presented in the form of lectures. The almost infinite variety of details into which this science runs, can only be learned by a laborious examination of books, and an assiduous attendance upon courts. The attempt to embrace them in lectures, would only confuse the memory of the hearers. To me the task would be endless; to you comparatively useless. I shall have accomplished all I propose to myself, if I can furnish you with a general chart of the long voyage upon which you are about to embark. Accordingly the views I shall present will always be general, and, sometimes, unavoidably superficial. They will be outlines merely for you to fill up by your own investigations. I shall endeavor to imbue you with the spirit and philosophy of law, as a science, consisting of principles arranged into a system. I shall commence and proceed throughout upon the supposition that you are beginners only, not adepts. I shall consider you as having one of two objects in view; either to make the law a regular profession, or to acquaint yourselves with its elements as a part of general education. It is matter of surprise as well as regret that the number of persons of the latter description is not greater. But I trust that public sentiment is changing on this subject. I think I perceive a manifest tendency towards a more general acquisition of (a) See the first section of Blackstone's Introduction; Warren on the Study of the Law; Hoffman's Course of Legal Study; an Essay prefixed to Anthon's Blackstone; and a work entitled Law and Lawyers. |