United States

may be considered under two heads—namely, Federal Law on the one hand, and State and Territory Law on the other. The constitution of the United States, and also page 2 the constitutions of the various States, make ample provision for the ordinary legislative, judiciary, and executive functions of a government. It may be safely asserted that no two States or Territories have similar laws, which however though varying in details are generally not dissimilar in principle. Each State has apparently vied with the other States in producing a system as free from anomalies as possible. Although I am far from maintaining that we should blindly adopt the innovations which have there been made in the English law, still I am satisfied that we should give them more attentive and impartial consideration than they generally receive. Hitherto we have confined our attention too exclusively to the English statutes, which have been to our legislators a sort of text-book. Nearly all the important changes which have been made in our laws have been adopted, and that, sometimes, very tardily, from the Home statutes. Before proceeding further it may be desirable to draw your attention to an important distinction between the