Hafting

“ Personal actions are those that are brought for the recovery either of some duty, or demand in particular, or of damages for the non-performance of some promise or contract, entered into, or lastly such as are brought by a man to recover a compensation in damages for some injury sustained in his person—or property. To give but one or two instances of these last: If my ground is trespassed on, if my person is assaulted, my reputation injured, the remedy is by the personal actions of trespass, assault & battery, or slander. All actions for breach of covenants are likewise personal actions ”

“ One short extract will suffice:—
"The Master said, 'There are three thousand offences against which the five punishments are directed, and there is not one of them greater than being unfilial.
"'When constraint is put upon a ruler, that is the disowning of his superiority; when the authority of the sages is disallowed, that is the disowning of all law; when filial piety is put aside, that is the disowning of the principle of affection. ”

“ My studies had long ago made me perfectly familiar with the doctrine of the civil law, that in order to constitute guilt, there must be a union of action and intention. Taking the property of another is not theft, unless, as the lawyers term it, there is the animus furandi. ”

“ The general duty resting on all mankind not to destroy the property of another, is as cogent in favor of an obligee as it is in favor of the owner of a horse. And the violation of this duty is as pure a tort in the one case as in the other. ”

“ That the intrusion, even of a mere stranger, on lands descended to an infant, constitutes the intruder, ipso facto, a fiduciary possessor, quasi guardian, subject both at law and in equity to all the duties and liabilities of such fiduciary possessor, and utterly incapable of converting his fiduciary possession into a disseisin or adverse possession. ”

“ Out of these twofold rights, of the right of revenge and the right of property, arose that strange medley of forbearance and blood-thirstiness which stamps the age. Revenge was a duty and a right, but property was no less a right ”

“ Suppose a man of property dies and leaves a will, what troubles are possible about the disposal of his property? Suppose he leaves no will, what troubles are possible? Whose duty is it to exercise control over such matters and hold people up to legal and honourable conduct in them? ”

“ Wherefore we strictly forbid you to do any hurt, mischief, or injury whatsoever, to them, in persons, lands or goods, under penalty of forfeiture of your own goods and estates to the said Lord the King, or to kill them, or any of them, under pain of death. ”

“ The legatees starve, but the lawyers are fed;
The Seniors have riches, the Juniors have bread;
The available surplus of course will be nil,
From the worthy testator who makes his own will.
“You had better pay toll when you take to the road,
Than attempt by a by-way to reach your abode;
You had better employ a conveyancer’s hand,
Than encounter the risk that your will shouldn’t stand.
From the broad beaten track when the traveler strays,
He may land in a bog, or be lost in a maze;
And the law, when defied, will avenge itself still,
On the man and the woman who make their own will.” ”

“ But suppose a person, to whom property is given on the terms of his incurring an equitable obligation in respect to it, is unwilling to incur such obligation, shall it be imposed upon him against his will? ”

“ Can there be such a difference, that he, who has expelled a man who has once entered, can be compelled to make restitution, but that he who has driven a person back when seeking to enter, cannot be compelled? 40See, I entreat you in the name of the immortal gods, what a law you are proceeding to establish for us,—what a condition for yourselves, and what a code for the whole state. ”

“ Mediately, when if he, which by nature differeth from him, but not by law, whereby as by some bond he is fained to be all one person, doth contract, or offend, of which sort in some cases be those which be in our power, as a wife, a bondman, servant, a factor, an Attourney, or Procurator, exceeding their authority. ”

“ It reads as if some one was about to prefer a claim to your father's estate, and that your lawyer had been advising a compromise with him.”
“But a compromise is a sort of admission that the claimant was not an impostor—that he had his rights!”
“There are rights, and rights! There are demands, too, that it is often better to conciliate than to defy—even though defiance would be successful.”
“And how is it that I never heard of this before?” burst he out, indignantly. “Has a man the right to treat his son in this fashion? ”

“ The obligation is cancelled, the judgment vacated; we never walk at liberty till our sins are forgiven. But observe, Though he discharged him from the penalty as a debtor, he did not discharge him from his duty as a servant. The pardon of sin doth not slacken, but strengthen, our obligations to obedience; and we must reckon it a favour that God is pleased to continue such wasteful servants as we have been in such a gainful service as his is, and should therefore deliver us, that we might serve him, Luke i. 74. I am thy servant, for thou hast loosed my bonds. ”

“ A will has to be proven, my good man, before an heir has any right to touch what it leaves. If you do not know this, why did you try to slink away like a thief, instead of walking out of the front door like a proprietor? Your manner convicts you, man; so down with the bundle, or I shall have to give you in charge of the constable as a thief.'
"'You——!' he began, but stopped. ”

“ To remedy this state of things it was enacted, inter alia, that, where any person was seised of any hereditaments to the use, confidence, or trust of any other person by any means, the person having such use, confidence, or trust should be seised, deemed, and adjudged in lawful seisin, estate, and possession of such hereditaments. ”

“ From the nature of magistracy it may be argued thus, That power which is properly neither parental, nor marital, nor masterly and despotic, over the subjects, persons, and goods, but only fiduciary, and by way of trust, is more to be resisted than that which is properly so; but that power which is properly so, that is parental power, and marital, and masterly, may be resisted in many cases; Therefore, that power which is not so properly, but only fiduciary is more to be resisted. ”

“ This, therefore, behoved to be considered and provided for in time; but if no provision was made for it, we must, in the disposal of the estate, comply with the laws which have been appointed to regulate in civil society the holding or not holding of property; that we may, so far as is in our power, abstain not only from the reality, but also from all appearance of evil, and preserve that good name which is so necessary to our office as stewards. How truly this procedure has the appearance of evil, I beseech your wisdom to observe. ”

“ For at the conclusion of your acts you have promulged a sentence, in which, while ordering the searching out of those heretics, you have brought in that those who neglect the duty are to be punished by forfeiture of their possessions and dignities. ”

“ But then in regard of the consequential obligation in point of justice unto man, the question I think must be thus resolved: 1. We must distinguish between a lawful imposer or contractor, and a violent usurper or robber that injuriously compelleth us to swear. 2. Between the obvious, usual sense of the words, and an unusual, forced sense. 3. Between a sincere, involuntary misunderstanding the imposer, and a voluntary, fraudulent reservation or private sense. 4. Between one that I owe something to antecedently, and one that I owe nothing to but by the mere self-obligation of my vow. ”

“ The law of master and servant in its relation to the law of negligence affords perhaps the most striking example in the last half-century of gross injustice done by this disposition to restrict responsibility and suppress litigation. ”

“ We grant and confirm also to the aforesaid brethren, that if any of their men be condemned to lose life or limb for crime, or shall have fled from justice, or have committed any offence for which he hath incurred forfeiture of his goods and chattels, the goods and chattels so forfeited shall belong to the aforesaid brethren, whether the cognizance of the offence belongeth to our court or to any other inferior court ”

“ If one is concerned that the possessor will abscond from justice, hide his valuables and claim inability to pay, or will not obey the court, he can seize other valuables as security, with the stipulation that they be returned at the direction of the court when the case is adjudicated. ”

“ If we have given or sold to anyone the guardianship of such land, and he causes destruction or damage, he shall lose the guardianship of it, and it shall be handed over to two worthy and prudent men of the same ‘fee’, who shall be similarly answerable to us. ”

“ No one shall take the property of another as a pledge [security] , unless he is bondsman for him, or the latter is clearly his debtor, and then only with the special permission of the judge. (8) Each one must obey his judge, and, if necessary, must tell the name of the judge before whom he must answer. (9) If anyone resists the decision of the judge and thereby causes damage to another, we are all bound to assist in compelling him to make proper satisfaction to him whom he has injured. ”

“ Now, with this understanding, make your own arrangements to suit yourself, and as you may determine most conducive to your interests. In confirming your action, as the executor or your grandfather, I must, however, take such measures as may be necessary to carry out the purpose of his will.... If you are determined to hold the estate, I think you ought to make it profitable. As to the means of doing so, you must decide for yourself. ”

“ That a freeman shall be amerced for a small fault after the manner of the fault, and for a great fault according to the greatness of the fault, saving his contentment. A villain also shall be amerced saving his wainage, and in like manner a merchant saving his merchandize, by the oath of good men of the vicinage; that a clerk shall be amerced according to his lay-fee in manner aforesaid, and not according to his ecclesiastical benefice. ”

“ It is so spoken of by counsel in the argument, and the authorities referred to as furnishing the measure of damages are all in cases of actions at law for what is equivalent to a conversion of property held for another's use. ”

“ If a party holds in a character incompatible with the idea of a freehold in another, his holding is adverse. In order to ascertain the character of the holding, courts will look at the parties' conduct while in possession. ”

“ We must not steal, cheat, or any other way do wrong to our neighbor in his goods and possessions; we must give every one his own, pay our debts, and make restitution for all damages which we have caused through our fault. ”

“ If any one of you should recognise any of us in the future under different circumstances, we ask you earnestly always to act in accordance with your professional duties and your obligations as citizens. In grateful return for your kind attention we have decided to declare your property inviolable, and to invest it with a thieves' taboo. ”

“ Many examples of legal powers may readily be given. Thus, X, the owner of ordinary personal property "in a tangible object" has the power to extinguish his own legal interest (rights, powers, immunities, etc.) through that totality of operative facts known as abandonment ”

“ Theft, however, like any other act of appropriation, sets up union between the person appropriating, and the article appropriated. Ownership, by the process of thought I have endeavoured already to trace, is in fact union; and injury inflicted upon a man’s property is in a literal sense inflicted on himself. ”

“ The doctrines upon the subjects of joint and several interests under a deed, and of the necessity or propriety for conformity with remedies for enforcing those interests to the nature of the interests themselves, have been maintained by a course of decision as unbroken and perspicuous, perhaps, as those upon which any other rule or principle can be shown to rest. ”

“ The one complains of the violation of his rights, either growing out of contract or torts committed; the other, defending himself against the injury complained of, either denies the contract or tort, or shows that the one has been satisfied, or the other justified. ”

“ In the first place, obligations are merely one class of duties, namely those which are the correlatives of rights in personam. An obligation is the vinculum juris, or bond of legal necessity, which binds together two or more determinate individuals. ”

“ Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man’s property, than of that done to one’s own person. If a man be a nuisance to his neighbor, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable ”

“ Independent of all authority, the common sense of this principle is so obvious that it cannot be disputed. Delivery, which, with sealing, is an essential part of a bond. cannot be made by a man to himself, nor can a man sue himself. ”