PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

Of the Administration of JustiGe. ~91
mind of the judge, there remains an unavoidable cause
of doubt, and a place for contention. ..
Seventhly. The deliberations of courts of justice "
upon every new question are encumbered with addi ..·
tional difficulties, in consequence of the authority ~
which the judgment of the court possessef., as a prece- -
dent to future judicatures: which authority appel·· .•
tains not only to the conclu~ions the court delivers,
but to the principles and arguments upon which they
ar~ built. The vi.:~w of this effect makes it necessary
for a judge to look beyond the case bt.fore him; and,
beside the attention he owes to the truth and justice
of the cau~e between the pat-ties, to reflect whether
the principles, and maxims, and reasoning, which he
adopts and authorizes, can be applied with ~afety to
all cases, which admit of a comparison with the pres ..
ent. The decision of the cause, wel-e the effects of
the decision to stop there, might be easy: but the
consequence of establishing the principle, which such a
decision a,sumes, may be difficult, though of the utmost
importance, to be foreseen and regulated.
Finally. After all the certainty and rest that can
be given to points of la\v, either by the interposition
of the legislature, or the authority of precedellts, one
principal source of disputation, and jnto which in ..
deed the greater part of legal controversies may be{
resolved,. wiil rem~in ~til1, namely~ "_tht:_~o~etition
of oppo~1te analogIes." When a polfit Of law as been
oriCe"idjudgeo, neIther that question, nor any which
comp,letely and in all it~ circumstant.:es cori-e5ponds
with that, can be brougllt a second titlle into dispute:
but questions arise, wnich resemble this only indi.
rectty and ill part, in certaill vie\v's and circumstallCC8,
and \v11ich may seem to bear all equal or a greater at:'
finity to other adjudged cases; questions, which can be
brought within any affixed rule only by analogy, and
which hold a relation by atlalogy to differellt rule~
It is by the urging of the different analogies that thJ./
contention of the Bar is carried on : and it is in thL
comparison, adjustment, and reconciliation of them
with one another; in the di~cel"nilli of such d~l·f'C:)
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