Legal Masterpieces

Author : Eminent Lawyers
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330324271
Total Pages : 646 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (242 download)

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Download or read book Legal Masterpieces, Vol. 1 of 2 written by Eminent Lawyers and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-06-16 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Legal Masterpieces, Vol. 1 of 2: Specimens of Argumentation and Exposition The purpose of this collection is to bring together, from the whole field of legal literature, specimens of the best models of the various forms of discourse and composition in which the lawyer's work is embodied. The aim has been to select, as far as possible, topics of general interest and importance, and to present these topics through the medium of some great legal personality. Much will be made of style and form; but it must not be supposed that substance is thereby underrated. Knowledge and invention, or the power of supplying ideas, is the first and essential step in all discourse and composition. Without clearness of thought, there can be no precision of statement; and clearness, as Webster said, is the great power at the bar. These specimens are designed simply to indicate the best methods of making the thought most effective; to show discourse as a system of thought animated by a rational order and sequence of ideas, and to display the effect of skill and taste in expression. The practical value of such studies will be obvious to every one who is at all familiar with practice in the courts. The amount of time wasted in unnecessary discussion is simply incalculable. Much of this is due to inadequate preparation and loose thinking. A large proportion results from what Justice Buller described as the "garrulity sometimes called eloquence," - the habit of dwelling upon a strong point after its strength has been exhausted; or, as Samuel Dexter called it, "the talent for keeping the sound a-going after the sense has gone." The bench is not without similar shortcomings. If Lord Bacon's plan to "cut off the tautologies and impertinences" of judicial opinions were now carried into effect, it would make short work of the mass of case law. Interminable opinions on questions of fact, elaborate restatement of well-settled principles, and the needless and mechanical citation of precedents are among the principal causes of the present deluge of reports. A closer study of the best models would bring about a better conception of intellectual reserve, a finer sense of proportion, and more wholesome mental habits of discrimination. 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.