(_Suggestions for alteration and adaptation to Modern Manners and
Customs, after the Jackson decision by the Court of Appeal._)
_Common Law._--“The tradition of ages shall prevail,” save when it runs
counter to the opinions of a leader-writer of a daily-paper.
_Equity._--(1.) “No right shall be without a remedy,” save when it is
sentimentally suggested that somebody’s right may be somebody else’s
wrong.
(2.) “Equity follows the law,” at such a distance that it never comes
up with it.
(3.) “Equity is equality,” save when a man’s wife is literally his
better half.
(4.) “Where there is equal equity the law must prevail,” in any view
it pleases to take at the instance of the Lord Chancellor for the time
being.
(5.) “Where the equities are equal the law prevails,” in any course it
likes to pursue.
(6.) “Equity looks upon that as done which is agreed to be done,”
especially when, after obtaining legal relief, the suitor ultimately
finds himself sold.
_Contracts._--(1.) “All contracts are construed according to the
intentions of the parties,” save where one of them subsequently changes
his mind.
(2.) “The construction should be liberal” enough to suit the fancy of
the Judge who enforces it.
(3.) “It should be favourable” to a long and angry correspondence in
all the principal newspapers.
(4.) “The contract should in general be construed according to the law
of the country where made,” but certainly not in particular.
(5.) “That testimony cannot be given to vary, but may to explain a
written contract,” save when someone suggests that this practice shall
be reversed.
(6.) “He who employs an agent does it himself,” unless it is considered
advisable to take an opposite view of the matter.
_Parent and Child._--“A father shall have the custody of his children,”
except when they get beyond his control and defy his authority.
_Landlord and Tenant._--“A landlord has a right to receive his rent,”
if the tenant does not spend the money on something else.
_Husband and Wife._--“A man has a right to the society of his wife,”
when she does not prefer to give her company elsewhere.
_Birthright of an Englishman._ (_Popular traditionally, but strictly
speaking supplementary._)--“An Englishman’s house is his castle,” but
only the _pied à terre_ of the lawfully wedded sharer of his income.