Description
Excerpt from The Foundations of Legal Liability, Vol. 3: A Presentation of the Theory and Development of the Common Law
We apprehend that the reason why the principles under lying the common-law actions are of permanent worth is to be found in the fact that those principles are indissolubly associated with fundamental conceptions of legal liability. It is true that the forms of action are the vestments or trap pings of substantive rights of action. But they are more than this. Historically they are the vehicle in which substantive principle has been conveyed to the teachable mind, and such conceptions of fundamental liability as those actions were capable of conveying are the conceptions which have been accepted in our law.
Under the system of common-law pleading, lawyers and judges were compelled to do exact thinking. In choosing the form of action in framing the pleadings, as well as in the instruction of Juries, and even in the rendition of the judg ment, it was necessary in each case to anatomize the cause of action in order to ascertain the exact nature of the legal liability upon which the suit was based. Each particular species of liability had, or was supposed to have, its peculiar and appropriate remedy. A mistake in the diagnosis of the nature of the liability would lead to the adoption of the wrong form of action, and this at a later stage would certainly lead to a wreck of that particular lawsuit and perhaps to a loss of the right of action itself. Every cause of action was therefore certain under the common-law system to be sub jected, at one stage or another, to the closest scrutiny to ascertain the exact nature of the liability involved. The dis cassions to which this gave rise tended vastly to elucidate the principles underlying our law, and they form one of the richest elements in our court decisions.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
We apprehend that the reason why the principles under lying the common-law actions are of permanent worth is to be found in the fact that those principles are indissolubly associated with fundamental conceptions of legal liability. It is true that the forms of action are the vestments or trap pings of substantive rights of action. But they are more than this. Historically they are the vehicle in which substantive principle has been conveyed to the teachable mind, and such conceptions of fundamental liability as those actions were capable of conveying are the conceptions which have been accepted in our law.
Under the system of common-law pleading, lawyers and judges were compelled to do exact thinking. In choosing the form of action in framing the pleadings, as well as in the instruction of Juries, and even in the rendition of the judg ment, it was necessary in each case to anatomize the cause of action in order to ascertain the exact nature of the legal liability upon which the suit was based. Each particular species of liability had, or was supposed to have, its peculiar and appropriate remedy. A mistake in the diagnosis of the nature of the liability would lead to the adoption of the wrong form of action, and this at a later stage would certainly lead to a wreck of that particular lawsuit and perhaps to a loss of the right of action itself. Every cause of action was therefore certain under the common-law system to be sub jected, at one stage or another, to the closest scrutiny to ascertain the exact nature of the liability involved. The dis cassions to which this gave rise tended vastly to elucidate the principles underlying our law, and they form one of the richest elements in our court decisions.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Details
Publisher - Forgotten Books
Author(s) - Thomas Atkins Street
Hardback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780266154402
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.4 cm
Page Count - 588
Paperback
Published Date -
ISBN - 9780266053002
Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm
Page Count - 590
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