LA PHILOSOPHIE JURIDIQUE DE BEXTHAM

1. Blackstone I Comui. 4. The science thus committed to bis charge, to be cultivated, methodized, andexplainedinacourse of académie lectures, is that of the laws and constitution of our own coantry ; a speciesof knuwledge, in which the gentlemen of England hâve been more remarkably déficient that those of ail Europe besides. — Cf. la lettre de Blackstone à lord Shelburne, du 27 déc. 17G1. — Il est curieux de remarquer que Blackstone et Bentham en viennent à définir leur objet presque en termes identiques. — V. Blackstone I Comm. 32 : If practice be the whole he is taught, practice must also be the whole he will ever know : if he be uninstructed in the éléments and ûrst principles upon which the rule of practice is founded, the least variation from established précédents will totally distract and bewilder him : ita lex scripta est is the utmost his knowledge will arrive at : he mustnever aspire toform, and seldom expect to comprehend, any arguments drawn a priori, from the spirit of the laws and the natural foundations of justice — et Bentham, Fragment on Government, Introd., (Bowring. vol. I, p 229), discutant Blackstone : « His professed object was to explain to us what the laws of England ivere. « Jto lex scripta est » was the only motto which he stood engaged to Keepin view.