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Essays and addresses

We should make a more scientific study of the various devices for law administration vuth the view of adapting them to the tasks at han If properly employed, law may be made to better serve human interests, but it is a dangerous instrument in the hands of men who do not know how to use it.

We have all heard of the " Mystery of Seisin " : the interest in Seisin is almost a thing of the past, but the Seal is a living thing s hich raises its head every day in our Courts Why a Seal or a red wafer should be so important is often puzzling: were an intelligent legislator to be called upon to frame a Code of Laws, tabula rasa and unhampered by the past, he would never think to place so much importance on a token.

Of course much of our learning on the subject derives from times when few could write and many made their contracts, evidenced by a seal and not by a signature.

We are taught that even yet a specialty sealed need not be signed, although one would be very unwise not to insist on signature as well.

In two recent volumes published by the Kings Printer, London, of the Curia Regis Rolls of the Reigns of Richard I and John 1 are a number of cases of Seals I extract a few to show how the subject was considered when the Common Law was in the making.