lawyer; an Englishman however must reflect with pleasure, that the
Commentaries of his countryman, Sir William Blackstone, will not suffer
in a comparison with any foreign work of jurisprudence. So far as the
researches of the present writer extend, the only one that can be put
into competition with them, is the _Jus Canonicum of Van-Espen_.

[Sidenote: CHAP. II. 1597-1610]

The judicial process of the nations on the continent differed
considerably from that of England. Trial by jury, and separate courts of
equity, were unknown to them. Some causes were heard and decided by all
the magistrates of the courts; others were referred to one or more of
their number. The king's advocate, or the advocate of the state, as he
was termed in a republic, held a situation between the judges and the
suitors: his province was to sum the facts and arguments of the cause,
and to suggest his opinions upon them to the judges.--We trust our
readers will excuse this summary view of foreign jurisprudence.

Grotius, by the advice of his father, addicted himself to the profession
of the law. He was only in his seventeenth year, when he pleaded his
first cause. He acquired by it, great reputation; and this was
constantly upon the increase, through the whole of his professional
career. He observed in his pleadings a rule, which he afterwards
recommended to his son: "That you may not," he told him, "be embarrassed
by the little order observed by the adversary counsel, attend to one
thing, which I have found eminently useful: Distribute all that can be
said on both sides, under certain heads; imprint these strongly in your
memory; and, whatever your adversary says, refer it not to his division,
but to your own."