" So far Parker, concurring
with Raymond. He proceeds:--"It was objected by the defendant's counsel,
that this is a novelty, and that what never has been done ought not to
be done." The answer is, "_The law of England is not confined to
particular cases, but is much more governed by reason than by any one
case whatever._ The true rule is laid down by Lord Vaughan, fol. 37,
38. 'Where the law,' saith he, 'is _known and clear_, the Judges must
determine as the law is, without regard to the inequitableness or
inconveniency: these defects, if they happen in the law, can only be
remedied by Parliament. But where the law is doubtful and not clear, the
Judges ought to interpret the law to be as is most consonant to equity,
and what is least inconvenient.'"
These principles of equity, convenience, and natural reason Lord
Chief-Justice Lee considered in the same ruling light, not only as
guides in matter of interpretation concerning law in general, but in
particular as controllers of the whole law of evidence, which, being
artificial, and made for convenience, is to be governed by that
convenience for which it is made, and is to be wholly subservient to the
stable principles of substantial justice, "I do apprehend," said that
Chief-Justice, "that the rules of evidence are to be considered as
_artificial_ rules, framed by men for _convenience in courts of
justice_.
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