JB/028/144/002

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Common Law

of materials thus immense too great to be all taken into the
composition of the body of the Common Law; let him
say how much and what he will exclude:⊞ ⊞ Between what is to be admitted and what is to be rejected let him
draw the line. I know there is a distinction
between books that are "authority, as the phrase is
and books that are not authority: but what there
is in this distinction shall be considered by and by.

The individual acts [judicial decisions] are acts of Judges; they
are acts themselves of authority. But the rules of Law
are general propositions: these general propositions
are conclusions drawn from the abovementioned individual
acts: and these conclusions are what are
formed by any one who happens to bestow his
thoughts upon the subject. If he happens to be
a judge, his conclusions with naturally carry more weight
with them than those of a common man. He
will naturally be supposed more likely to form such
conclusions as shall be the same with those formed
relative to the same matter by others that are Judges. His character of Judge
is a certificate of his possessing a certain degree experience, of discernment,
and in short a habit of thinking analogous
to theirs that of his brethren. Experience is requisite to suggest
impromptu the for stock of individual decisions
proper sufficient to ground a conclusion relative to
that matter: discernment to draw from a general stock
of such materials the conclusion of that is proper.
A habit of thinking analogous to that of other Judges, that is,
of other Lawyers, because the habit of thinking on legal topics among Lawyers

Identifier: | JB/028/144/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 28.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	028	Main Headings	comment on the commentaries
Folio number	144	Info in main headings field	common law
Image	002	Titles
Category	text sheet	Number of Pages	3
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering
Penner	jeremy bentham	Watermarks	[[watermarks::[monogram] [britannia emblem]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	9409
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