On some dear cause each client oft relies;

Some pious tears, when lost, it oft' requires:
Ev'n from the bar the voice of justice cries;
Ev'n lawyers weep when such a cause expires.

For thee, who mindful of each agent's deeds,
Dost in these lines their artful ways relate;
If chance, or lonely contemplation leads

Some kindred spirit to enquire thy fate;

Haply some hoary headed sage may say,-
Oft' have we seen him, at the peep of dawn,
Brushing, with hasty steps, the dews away,
To meet the judges, at the court in town.
There, at the foot of some frequented bench
In th' Outer-House, and to the side bar nigh,
Molested by the agent's filthy stench,

He'd pore on books with many a piteous sigh.3

In yonder hall, now smiling as in scorn,

Mutt'ring his wayward fancies, he would rove; Now drooping, woeful, wan, like one forlorn,

Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love. One morn I miss'd him in th' accustomed hall, Upon the boards, and near his favourite seat; Another came, and answered to the roll:

Nor at the bar nor in the court he sate.

The next, with dirges due, in sad array,

Slow through the church-way path we saw him borne:

Approach and read, for thou canst read the lay
Grav'd on his stone, beneath yon aged thorn.

EPITAPH.

Here rests his head upon the lap of earth,

A youth to Business and to Law well known;

Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Litigation marked him as her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did a recompense as largely send:

He gave to Mis'ry (all he had), a tear;

He gain'd from Heav'n, ('twas all he wished), a friend.

No further seek his merits to disclose,

Nor draw his frailties from their dread abode; (There they, like many a lawyer's, now repose) The bosom of his Father and his God.

COLIN M'LAURIN.4

Colintown, 12th May 1814.

Notes to Number XXI.

1 An action is said to be asleep if not called in Court for year and day.

2 The epithet "Wily," which the author has applied to Mr. Corbet, is not very appropriate, for he had not, at least in his latter days, the slightest claim to such an appellation. He was a bold and sarcastic pleader in his early days, as the following anecdote sufficiently demonstrates. Lord President Campbell, after the fashion of those times, was somewhat addicted to browbeating young counsel; and as bearding a Judge is not a likely way to rise in favour, his Lordship generally got it all his own way. Upon one occasion, however, he caught a tartar. His Lordship had what. are termed little pig's eyes, and his voice was thin and weak. Corbet had been pleading before the Inner-House, and, as usual, the President commenced his attack, when his intended victim thus addressed him: "My Lord, it is not for me to enter into any altercation with your Lordship, for no one

knows better than I do the great difference between us; you occupy the highest place on the Bench, and I the lowest at the Bar; and then, my Lord, I have not your Lordship's voice of thunder,—I have not your Lordship's rolling eye of command."

3 Mr. M'Laurin had very fair prospects at the time he entered the Faculty of Advocates, and he made it is said one or two very good appearances. His unfortunate malady, which came on at an early period of life, effectually prevented his rising at the Bar. The description of himself in the ensuing stanza is pretty accurate, excepting that he was (at least at the time he wrote it) very unlike one "cross'd in hopeless love."

This very strange production seems to have been composed during one of the author's periodical fits of insanity. Its absurdity is amusing enough, and it has been preserved as the only existing memorial of the son of that distinguished lawyer, Lord Dreghorn, and the grandson of the still more distinguished mathematician, Colin Maclaurin.

XXII.

DECISIONES PROVINCIALES CUM NOTIS VARIORUM ET FUSTYWHYGII.

These curious decisions were privately printed some years ago, and strange as it may appear, they are actually genuine, having been veritably pronounced by a provincial judge, now no more, the only liberty taken having been to alter the dates.

names and vary the

ΤΟ

PETER NIMMO, LL.D., M.D. A.S.S.

Professor of Law, Medicine and Divinity,
Attorney-General to his Serene High-
ness the Peishwa, Accoucheur to
that Sublime Potentate the
Black Princess of Mully-

gatawny, Protestant
Chaplain to his

Excellency the

Turkish Am

bassador.

&c. &c.
&c.

This Volume is respectfully inscribed by

THE EDITOR.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS.

The acquisition of a competent knowledge of the jurisprudence of the country in which we live, is an indispensible requisite in the education of every man of birth and fortune. Nay, even to persons in the inferior ranks of life, a certain degree of legal knowledge is absolutely indispensible. The reason is obvious. Law in its operation affects every class of society in some shape or other, and consequently, the proper or improper administration of justice, becomes an object of vital importance to the community, in every civilized state.

The opinions of our enlightened Jurisconsults as embodied, or expressed in the decisions which they pronounce in their judicial capacity, are therefore regarded with that attention which their general importance demands. The value, too, of their legal views is still more increased, when it is considered, that in process of time their dicta

become part and parcel of our law, and afford precedents which necessarily must influence, and regulate all analogous cases.

The multifarious volumes of our reports, evince the indefatigable zeal and industry with which our public spirited lawyers collect, methodize, and preserve the decisions and pithy apothegms of our Senators. However well-disposed the editor of the ensuing valuable remains may be, to concede to these meritorious individuals those praises which they so justly merit, still it is impossible to deny, that with all their research, many decisions of infinite moment have escaped their observance. This more particularly happens in reference to provincial reports, of which there exist few, or no specimens. How true is it, that

"Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its fragrance in the desert air." Thus has it faired with these valuable and golden remains, whereof the two ensuing reports are a specimen. In the valuable library of the justly venerated and respected Professor Nimmo, the MS. has for many years reposed unnoticed and unknown, except by those individuals who had long regarded the legal ruler of their isolated district, with that veneration and respect which his unrivalled talents and abilities commanded. Had fate assigned to this provincial judge a more elevated station in the legal world, what might we not have expected? Regret is vain; and our only consolation is, that his reliques have been rescued by Dr. Nimmo's pious hand from oblivion.1 By his exertions the legal doctrines and immortal opinions of this unrivalled lawyer have been preserved to enlighten future ages, while, presently, they no doubt will excite the astonishment of a wondering but delighted world.