A SELECTION OF LEGAL MAXIMS, CLASSIFIED AND ILLUSTRATED. L.E. Jones, Waverville HERBERT BROOM, ESQ., OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW. Maxims are the condensed Good Sense of Nations.-Sir J. Mackintosh. Juris Præcepta sunt hæc; honeste vivere, alterum non lædere, suum cuique Fourth Edition. PHILADELPHIA: T. & J. W. JOHNSON, LAW BOOKSELLERS, PUBLISHERS, AND IMPORTERS, 197 CHESTNUT STREET. 1854. THE reasonableness of the hope which I formerly ventured to express, as to the utility of a work upon Elementary Legal Principles, has, I think, been established, as well by the rapid sale of the first edition of this Treatise, as by the very flattering communications respecting it which have been made to me by some of the most distinguished members of that Profession for which it was designed. Thus kindly encouraged, I have endeavored to avail myself of the opportunity for improvement which the preparation of a new Edition affords, by making a careful revision of the entire Work, by the insertion of many important Maxims which had been previously unnoticed, and by the addition of much new matter illustrative of those originally commented upon or cited. During the interval which has elapsed since the first appearance of this Work, I have, moreover, devoted myself to a perusal of various treatises upon our own Law, which I had not formerly, from lack of time or opportunity, consulted; to the examination of an extensive series of American Reports, and also to a review of such portions of and commentaries upon the Roman Law, as seemed most likely to disclose the true sources from which very many of our ordinary rules and maxims have been ultimately derived. I trust that a very slight comparison of the present with the former Edition of this Work, will suffice to show that the time thus employed with a view to its improvement has not been unprofitably spent; but that much new matter has been collected and inserted, which may reasonably be expected to prove alike serviceable to the Practitioner and the Student. Besides the additions just alluded to, I may observe, that the order of arrangement formerly adopted has been on the present occasion in some respects departed from. For instance, that portion of the Work which related to Property and its attributes, has now been subdivided into three sections, which treat respectively of its Acquisition, Enjoyment, and Transfer: a mode of considering this subject which has been adopted for the sake of simplicity, and with a |