"IT MAY BE SAID THAT ALL THIS IS A MERE SUBTILTY, UNDESERVING OF REGARD; AND THAT THE SUPPOSED ANOMALY OF THE CONTRARY VIEW IS ONE BUT IN THEORY, FROM WHICH NO PRACTICAL INFERENCE OUGHT TO BE DRAWN. IT IS SUFFICIENT TO ANSWER, THAT THIS IS A QUESTION OF TITLE, OF WHICH THE WHOLE FORM AND STRUCTURE IS BUILT UPON THEORY. WHAT IS THE WHOLE DOCTRINE OF OUR REAL RIGHTS, AS COMPLETED BY CONSTRUCTIVE AND SYMBOLICAL DELIVERY, BUT A COMBINATION OF SUBTILTIES? BUT THEY ARE SUBTILTIES IN WHICH THE STRICT ADHERENCE TO THEORY IS INDISPENSABLE, FOR THE BEST OF ALL PRACTICAL REASONS, THAT THE THEORY AFFORDS THE ONLY MEANS OF SOLVING WITH CERTAINTY AND CONSISTENCY THOSE NUMEROUS QUESTIONS WHICH WOULD OTHERWISE BECOME THE SUBJECT OF LOOSE AND ARBITRARY ADJUDICATION. IT IS THE THEORY, AND THAT THEORY RIGIDLY AD HERED TO, WHICH IN THIS, AS IN MANY OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF LAW, UNITES THE UNDIGESTED SERIES OF SEPARATE CASES INTO ONE CONSISTENT SYSTEM OF JURISPRUDENCE." LORD FULLERTON. IN THE LAW OF SCOTLAND PREPARED FROM THE ORIGINAL PLEADINGS, ARRANGED IN OF THE COURT NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. BY GEORGE ROSS, ADVOCATE. LAND RIGHTS. EDINBURGH: SUTHERLAND AND KNOX, GEORGE STREET. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. MDCCCXLIX. PREFACE. THE want of a Work similar in its general character to the present has been felt by many, in their earlier studies of the law. Mere abstract propositions of law do not satisfy the student. He wishes to see the principles contained in these propositions applied to actual cases, and he wishes also to see the grounds on which these principles were adopted and came to form a part of the law. The multitude of cases, however, to which he is referred in support of any single proposition, forms a serious obstacle to the student's progress. He has neither time nor inclination to overtake an examination of them all, and he is at a loss to determine which he ought to select. A series of selected Cases, therefore, establishing and illustrating some of the most important principles of the law, and arranged under appropriate heads, may tend, it is thought, to facilitate the labours of the student. To the Lawyer, too, the Conveyancer and the Practitioner, the present Work may not be without advantage. Those principles which the student is desirous to learn, they are continually called upon to apply in practice, and it is a ready application of them. in practice that forms an indispensable condition of professional success. With them, economy of time is of material moment; and in the hurry of business, a glance at the argument employed in some important Case, and a consideration of the grounds on which the judgment proceeded, may serve to recall or suggest materials for argument applicable to the subject |