9 Mar. 1807

Injustice in Judicature

Letter V

I. Shapes

1. Misdecision

Examples might be added to the amount of volumes upon volumes: but from these few, as satisfactorily as from any number of such volumes, the following conclusions may, it should seem, be deduced.

1. That for various purposes it is of importance that the distinction between matter of law and matter of fact should be clearly apprehended, and the separation carefully made and kept up.  Here enumerate the purposes

2. That in real i.e. Statute law the distinction is readily apprehended, the separation easily made and kept up.

3. That under a compleat and well composed body of statutory law, civil and penal, if compleat as it might be and ought to be no question of law could arise other than what was grounded in some or more of the words and phrases contained in it.

4. That in the penning of such a body of law one of the objects should be so to order the words and phrases of it that under it the number of questions of law annually raised out of it may be as small as possible.

5. That, in this view, for the purpose of abbreviation, terms of the most general and comprehensive import, such as force, compulsion, fraud &c, may on various occasions be very conveniently, and must almost necessarily, be employed.

6. But that, lest doubts and differences of opinion, and thence questions of law should spring out of them, and in order to fix the import and settle the application of them, an explanation of each such word given once for all should be consigned to some part or other of the code.