Wikiquote:Dictionary of Legal Quotations/Section 05

Reasonable

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 218.

• There is no point on which a greater amount of decision is to be found in Courts of law and equity than as to what is reasonable ; for instance, reasonable time, reasonable notice, and the like. It is impossible a priori to state what is reasonable in such cases. You must have the particular facts of each case established before you can ascertain what is meant by reasonable time, notice, and the like.
  • Lord Romilly, M.R., Labouchere v. Dawson (1872), L. R. 13 Eq. Ca. 325.

• A reasonable fine is such as the law will judge to be so . . . but what a reasonable fine is, and who shall be the judge of it, the law has established no rule.
  • Lord Hardwicke, Moore's Case (1736), 17 How. St. Tr. 914.

• I take it that reasonable human conduct is part of the ordinary course of things.
  • Lindley, L.J., "The City of Lincoln" (1889), L. R. 15 P. D. 18.

• To me the entire uselessness of such rules as practical guides lies in the inherent vagueness of the word "reasonable," the absolute impossibility of finding a definite standard, to be expressed in language, for the fairness and the reason of mankind, even of Judges. The reason and fairness of one man is manifestly no rule for the reason and fairness of another, and it is an awkward, but as far as I see, an inevitable consequence of the rule, that in every case where the decision of a Judge is overruled, who does or does not stop a case on the ground that there is, or is not, reasonable evidence for reasonable |men, those who overrule him say, by implication, that in the case before them, the Judge who is overruled is out of the pale of reasonable men.
  • John Duke Coleridge, Dublin, &c. Rail. Co. v. Slattery (1878), L. R. 3 App. Ca. 1197.

Relief

• Shall we relieve a man, that trusts when he needs not?
  • Holt, C.J., Tawney's Case (1703), 2 Kaym. 1013; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 219.

• A Court of justice ought not to relieve a plaintiff, upon a ground of action immoral or illegal.
  • Lord Mansfield, Stotesbury v. Smith (1759), 2 Burr. Part IV. 926; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 219.

• It is a maxim in our law that a plaintiff must shew that he stands on a fair ground when he calls on a Court of justice to administer relief to him.
  • Lord Kenyon, C.J., Booth v. Hodgson (1795), 6 T. R. 409; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 219.

Retainer.

• I can only repeat what I said on a former occasion, and what almost every other Judge has said, that the right of retainer is a relic of old law, not founded on justice, and working the greatest possible injustice.
  • Moling, V.-C, Crowder v. Stewart (1880), 16 L. R. C D. 369.

Revenue

• No country ever takes notice of the revenue laws of another.
  • Lord Mansfield, Hohnan v. Johnson (1775), 1 Cowp. 343.

• One nation does not take notice of the revenue laws of another.
  • Lord Mansfield, Planche and another v. Fletcher (1779), 1 Doug. 253. See also per Abbott, C.J., James v. Catherwood (1823), 3 D. & R. 191; per Rolfe, B., Bristow v. Sequeville (1850), 5 Ex. 279.

Reward

• Every reward has its proper bounds.
  • Yates, J., Millar v. Taylor (1769), 4 Burr. Part IV. 2391.

Schoolmaster

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 221.

• A man's scholarship may be perfect, his character admirable, and yet, for want of the power to control subordinates and govern boys, he may be wholly unfit for a schoolmaster.
  • Sir R. Matins, V.-C, Hayman v. Governors of Rugby School (1874), L. R. 18 Eq. Ca. 85.

• An original thinker and able teacher very soon attracts a large class and vice versa.
  • Lord Watson, Caird v. Sime (1887), 57 L. J. P. C. 9.

• Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage, a personage less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array.
  • Lord Brougham, speech (Jan. 28, 1828).

• A master should be paid liberally, in order to secure a person properly qualified.
  • Sir J. Romilly, Att.-Gen. v. Warden, &c. of Louth School (1852), 14 Beav. 206.

Settlements

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 222-223.

• A married woman having an estate settled for her separate use without power of anticipation can play fast and loose to a greater extent than if she were a feme sole.
  • Lindley, M.R., Lady Bateman v. Faber (1898), 77 L. T. Rep. 578.

• There is no merit in a settlement: it depends upon positive law.
  • Wilmot, J., Rex v. Corporation of Carmarthen (1759), 2 Burr. Part IV. 873.

• Settlements are supposed in law to be indifferent to paupers; though they are often in fact desirous of one in preference to another.
  • Wilmot, J., Rex v. Inhabitants of Burton-Bradstock (1765), Burrow (Settlement Cases), 535.

• A Woman having a Settlement
  Married a Man with none:
  The Question was, he being dead,
  'If that she had, was gone.'
  Quoth Sir John Pratt,—'Her Settlement
  Suspended did remain
  Living the Husband : But him dead,
  It doth revive again.'
  • Cited by counsel in Rex v. Inhabitants of Norton (1738), Burrow, S.C. 124, as the case of St. John Wapping, which the court notes it is unable to find in any printed book. A subsequent case apparently reversed this decision, for some verses are extant to this effect:
    "A Woman having Settlement,
    Married a Man with none:
    He flies and leaves her destitute,
    What then is to be done?
    "Quoth Ryder, the Chief Justice,
    In spite of Sir John Pratt,
    You'll send her to the parish
    In which she was a brat.
    "Suspension of a Settlement
    Is not to be maintained,
    That which she had by birth subsists
    Until another's gained.

Sheriff

• I do really believe you, Mr. Sheriff; you have done like an honest man.
  • Keating, CJ., Case of John Price and others (1689), 12 How St. Tr. 625.

• The sheriffs of London have been immemorially the sheriff of Middlesex.
  • Yates, J., Case of John Wilkes (1763), 19 How. St. Tr. 1096.

Shipping

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 223.

• A salvage service which hardly exceeds ordinary towage is naturally remunerated on a very different scale from an heroic rescue from imminent destruction.
  • Lindley, L.J., " The City of Chester" (1884), L. R. 9 Pr. Div. 202.

• The impulsive desire to save human life when in peril is one of the most beneficial instincts of humanity, and is nowhere more salutary in its results than in bringing help to those who, exposed to destruction from the fury of winds and waves, would perish if left without assistance.
  • Cockburn, C.J., Scaramanga v. Stamp (1880), L. R. 5 Com. PI. D. 304.

• I am sorry to see a decreasing tendency to aid vessels that are broken down.
  • Butt, J., " The Benlarig" (1888), L. R. 14 Pro. D. 6.

• It is of great importance that the laws by which the contracts of so numerous and so useful a body of men as the sailors are supposed to be guided, should not be overturned.
  • Lord Kenyon, C.J., Cutter v. Powell (1795), 6 T. R. 320.

Solicitor and Client.

• What a solicitor is privileged from disclosing is that which is communicated to him sub sigiUo eonfessionis—that is to say, some fact which the client communicates to the solicitor for the purpose of obtaining the solicitor's professional advice and assistance.
  • Sir W. M. James, L.J., Ex parte Campbell, In re Cathcart (1870), L. R. 5 Ch. App. 703.

• It is of the highest importance that a man should be able to consult his solicitor without fear.
  • Cave, J., Re Arnott (1899), 60 L. T. 109.

• The secrets were imparted to the solicitor for the client's benefit, and should not be used to his detriment.
  • Smith v. Kay, 7 H. L. Cas. 750—779.

Sunday

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 231.

• Working days in England are not the same as working days in foreign ports, because working days in England, by the custom and habits of the English, if not by their law, do not include Sundays.
  • Lord Esher, M.R., Nielsen v. Wait (1885), L. R. 16 Q. B. 71.

• Anciently, the Courts of justice did sit on Sundays.
  • Lord Mansfield, Swann v. Broome (1764), 3 Burr. Part TV., p. 1597.8

• It would hardly be decent to adjourn the Court to Sunday.
  • Cockburn, C.J., Reg. v. Charlotte Winsor (1866), 10 Cox, C. C. 298.

• It is laid down in distinct terms by high authority, that of Lord Coke and Comyns, that Sunday is not a juridical day.
  • Cockburn, C.J., Winsor v. The Queen (1866), L. R. 1 Q. B. D. 308.

• I do not think there can be the smallest doubt that to sit judicially on Sunday on any business would be indecent and improper, and ought never to be done if it can be helped.
  • Blackburn, J., Winsor v. The Queen (1866), L. R. 1 Q. B. D. 317.

Text books

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 231-32.

• It is to my mind much to be regretted, and it is a regret which I believe every Judge on the bench shares, that text-books are more and more quoted in Court—I mean, of course, text-books by living authors—and some Judges have gone so far as to say that they shall not be quoted.
  • Kekewieh, J., Union Bank v. Munster (1887), L. R. 37 CD. 54.

• Brother, Viner is not an authority. Cite the cases that Viner quotes: that you may do.
  • Foster, J., Far v. Denn (1757), 1 Burr. Part IV. 364.

• I must treat with reverence everything which Lord Kenyon has said: but not everything which text writers have represented him to have said, which he did not say.
  • Lefroy, C.J., Persse v. Kinneen (1859), (Lr. Rep.) L. T. Vol. 1 (N. S.), 78.

• Stereotyped rules laid down by judicial writers cannot be accepted as infallible canons of interpretation in these days, when commercial transactions have altered in character, and increased in complexity; and there can be no hard-and-fast rule by which to construe the multiform commercial agreements with which in modern times we have to deal.
  • Bowen, L.J., Jacobs v. Credit Lyonnais (1884), L. R. 12 Q. B. D. 601; 53 L. J. Q. B. 159.

• Respect for a law-writer whose works have gotten reputation, may determine the legislator or Judge to adopt his opinions, or to turn the speculative conclusions of a private man into actually binding rules. . . . Now till the legislator or Judge impress them with the character of law . . . the conclusions are the speculative conclusions of a private or unauthorised writer.
  • Austin, Jurisprudence, Vol. I., p. 37

• There is one notion often expressed with regard to works written or revised by authors on the Bench, which seems to me in part at least erroneous, the notion, I mean, that they possess a quasi-judicial authority. It is hardly enough remembered how different are the circumstances under which a book is written and a judgment pronounced, or how much the weight and value of the latter are due to the discussions at the Bar which precede the judgment.
  • Fry, Specific Performance (1881), 2nd ed. v.

Tort

The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904)

Quotes reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 234-38.

• The general principle is, that in order that an action may be maintained in this country in respect of a tort committed outside the jurisdiction, the act complained of must be a wrongful act, both by the law of this country and by the law of the country where it was committed; but it is not necessary that it should be the subject of civil proceedings in the foreign country.
  • Lopes, L.J., Machado v. Fontes (1897), 66 L. J. Q. B. D. 543.

• To entitle a plaintiff to maintain an action, it is necessary to shew a breach of some legal duty due from the defendant to the plaintiff.
  • Erie, C.J., Cox v. Burbidge (1863), 13 C. B. (N. S.) 436.

• That great principle of the common law which declares that it is your duty so to use and exercise your own rights as not to cause injury to other people.
  • Williams, J., Gray v. North-Eastern Rail. Co. (1883), 48 L. T. Rep. (N. S.) 905.

• The well-known maxim that you must not, when you have the choice, elect to use your property so as to cause injury to your neighbour.1—
  • Brett, M.R., Whalley v. Lancashire, &c. Rail. Co. (1884), 13 L: R. Q. B. D. 137. 1 The maxim is Sic utere tuo vt alienum non ladat, 9 Rep. 59. See Br, Leg. Max., tith ed., 347.

• Surely every injury imports a damage, though it does not cost the party one farthing, and it is impossible to prove the contrary; for a damage is not merely pecuniary, but an injury imports a damage, when a man is hereby hindered of his right.
  • Holt, C.J., Ashby v. White (1703), 2 Raym. 955.

• La ley est un egal dispenser de Justice, et ne relinque aucun sans remedy sur son droit, sans son propre laches: The law is an equal dispenser of Justice, and leaves none without a remedy, for his right, without his own laches.
  • Vaughan, J., Tustian v. Roper (1670), Jones's (Sir Thos.) Rep. 32.

• Personal injury is a more serious matter than damage to property.
  • Cockburn, C.J., Reg. v. Heppinstale (1859), 7 W. R. 178.

• An injured party may proceed in Westminster Hall notwithstanding any order of the House.
  • Willes, C.J., Wynne v. Middleton (1745), 1 Wils. 128.

• If a man sustains damage by the wrongful act of another, he is entitled to a remedy, but to give that title two things must concur, damage to himself and a wrong committed by the other. That he has sustained damage is not of itself sufficient.
  • Bayley, J., R. v. Commissioners of Pagham (1828), 8 B. & C. 362.

• Actual perceptible damage is not indispensable as the foundation of an action; it is sufficient to show the violation of a right, in which case the law will presume damage.
  • Lord Holt, Ashby v. White (1703), 3 Ld. Raym. 938.

• I am not able to understand how it can be correctly said in a legal sense, that an action will not lie even in the case of a wrong or a violation of a right, unless it is followed by some perceptible damage which can be established as a matter of fact; in other words, that injuria sine damno is not actionable. On the contrary, from my earliest reading I have considered it laid up among the very elements of the common law, that wherever there is a wrong there is a remedy to redress it; and that every injury imports damage in the nature of it; and if no other damage is established, the party injured is entitled to a verdict for nominal damages.
  • Mr. Justice Story, Webb v. Portland Manufacturing Co., 3 Sumn. Rep. 189.

• I am by no means sure that if a man kept a tiger, and lightning broke his chain, and he got loose and did mischief, that the man who kept him would not be liable.
  • Bramwell, B., Nichols v. Marsland (1875), L. R. 10 Ex. 260.

• To say that whenever the world grows wiser it convicts those that came before of negligence.
  • Bramwell, B., Carstairs v. Taylor (1871), L. R. 6 Ex. 222.

• The public can have no rights springing from injustice to others.
  • Lord Romilly, M.R., Walker v. Ware, Hadham, &c. Rail. Co. (1866), 12 Jur. (N. S.) 18.

• It is our duty to take care that persons in pursuing their own particular interests do not transgress those laws which were made for the benefit of the whole community.
  • Lord Kenyon, C.J., King v. Waddington (1800), 1 East, 158.

• Every man that is injured ought to have his recompence.
  • Holt, C.J., Ashby v. White (1703), 2 Lord Raym. 955.

• If a man who makes to another person, upon a solemn occasion, an assertion, upon which that person acts, he lies under an obligation to make good his assertion.
  • Sir J. Romilly, M.R., Re Ward (1862), 31 Beav. 7.

• Ex dolo main non oritur actio.
  • Cowp. 343.

• None shall take advantage of his own wrong.
  • Edward Coke, Dumpor's Case (1603), 4 Co. 119.

• He whose dirt it is must keep it that it may not trespass.
  • Holt, C.J., Tenant v. Goldwin (1704), 1 Salk. 361.

• I know of no duty of the Court which it is more important to observe, and no powers of the Court which it is more important to enforce, than its power of keeping public bodies within their rights. The moment public bodies exceed their rights] they do so to the injury and oppression of private individuals, and those persons are entitled to be protected from injury arising from such operations of public bodies.
  • Lindley, M.R., Roberts v. Gwyrfai District Council (1899), L. R. 2 C. D. 614.

• It is a vain thing to imagine a right without a remedy; for want of right and want of remedy are reciprocal.
  • Holt, C.J., Ashby v. White (1703), 2 Raym. 953.

• Where a man has but one remedy to come at his right, if he loses that he loses his right.
  • Holt, C.J., Ashby v. White (1703), 2 Raym. 954.

• It is not very consonant with the simplicity of the old law to give two remedies for the same evil.
  • Eyre, C.J., Jefferson v. Bishop of Durham (1797), 2 Bos. & Pull. 122.

• Better that an individual should suffer an injury than that the public should suffer an inconvenience.
  • Ashhurst, J., Russell v. The Mayor of Devon (1788), 1 T. R. 673.

• The advantage to the community outweigh the injury to the individual.
  • Drove, J., Henwood v. Harrison (1872), L. R. 7 Com. PI. Ca. 613.

• What a man does in his closet ought not to affect the rights of third persons.
  • Lord Kenyan, C.J., Outram v. Morewood (1793), 5 T. R. 123.

• No tort is assignable, in law or equity. It is not within any species of action at common law.
  • Yates, J., Millar v. Taylor (1769), 4 Burr. Part. IV. 2386.

• The Court would not endure that a mere form or fiction of law, introduced for the sake of justice, should work a wrong, contrary to the real truth and substance of the thing.
  • Lord Mansfield, Johnson v. Hargreaves (1760), 2 Burr. Part IV. 962.

Transfer of Right of Action.

• It was the policy of the common law to forbid the transfer of rights of action. If this were not forbidden men would often pay the debts of others and bring actions upon them to the great increase of litigation.
  • Heath, J., Scholey v. Daniel (1801), 1 Bos. & Pull. 541; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 238.