equired, she does not reside upon earth.

But if these pleadings are not found a balance against prejudice, and a
man suffers his wrath to kindle against a valuable institution, because
perfection does not preside over it, let him peruse an old author, who
asks, "What shall we think of the folly of that man, who throws away the
apple, because it contains a core? despises the nut, for the shell? or
casts the diamond into the sea, because it has a flaw?"

Decision is usually established upon oath, both in criminal courts, and
in those at Westminster, through which the oath is seen to pass with
free currency.

A judge is sometimes fond of sheltering himself behind an oath; it may
be had at an easy rate. Each of the contending parties wishes to win his
cause by an oath: but though oaths would be willingly taken, they ought
to be sparingly given.--They may be considered what they generally are
not, _of the last importance_.

We may observe, that two opponents are ready to swear directly contrary
to each other; that if a man asserts a thing, he can do no less than
swear it; and that, after all, an oath proves nothing.

The commissioners, therefore, wish rather to establish _fact_ upon
_proof_; but, if this is wanting, then upon circumstantial evidence; and
if this support fails, they chuse to finish a quarrel by a moderate,
though a random judgment.

Much honor is due to that judicial luminary, William Murray, Earl of
Mansfield, who presides over the King's-Bench, for introducing equity
into the courts of law, where she had long been a stranger.

The Court of Requests may justly be charged with weakness, and what
court may not? It is inseparable from man.

A person cannot chuse his capacity, but he may chuse to be a rogue; one
is an act of nature, the other of the will. The greater the temptation
to go astray, the greater must be the resolution to conquer it.

One of the suitors presented a commissioner with a couple of chickens,
as a powerful argument to strengthen a feeble case; but the commissioner
returned his present, and the plaintiff lost his cause; and no wonder,
he sent a chicken to plead it.

The defendant, by disobeying the orders of the court, falls under the
power of the plaintiff, who can cause execution to issue against his
goods, and reimburse himself; or, against his body, and confine him
forty days, unless paid his demand.

There is no cause that can be brought before the Court of Requests, but