Its origin and progress may be traced in the _Tree_ engraved on the
opposite page.
[Illustration: ~The Tree of Common Law.~]
1. The _root_ of the engraved _Tree_ exhibits a diversity of suits and
actions for the remedy of different wrongs.
2. The _trunk_ shows the growth of a suit, stage by stage, until its
conclusion.
3. The _branches_ from each stage show the proceedings of the
plaintiff on one side, and the proceedings of the defendant on the
other.
4. The _leaves_ of each branch show certain collateral proceedings
whereby the suit is either advanced or suspended.
5. Supposing the _form_ of action suitable to the case, and no stay of
proceedings, the suit grows, on the “sure and firm set earth” of the
law, into a “goodly tree,” and, attaining to execution against either
the plaintiff or the defendant, terminates in consuming fire.
* * * * *
A few whimsical miscellanies are subjoined, not derogatory from the
importance or necessity of _legislation_, but amusingly illustrative of
_legal practice_ in the sinuosities it has acquired during successive
stages of desuetude and change. Those only who know the law are
acquainted with the modes by which numerous deformities in its
application have originated, or the means by which they may be remedied;
while all who experience that application are astonished at its
expensiveness, and complain of it with reason.
A legal practitioner is said to have delivered a bill containing several
charges of unmerciful appearance, to a client, who was a tailor; and the
tailor, who had made a suit of clothes for his professional adviser, is
said to have sent him the following bill by way of set-off.