Page:Cardozo-Nature-Of-The-Judicial-Process.pdf/27

Rh obligation and the remedy were unknown unless the promise was under seal. Rights of action may be assigned, and the buyer prosecute them to judgement though he bought for the purposes of suit. Time was when the assignment was impossible, and the maintenance of the suit a crime. It is no basis today for an action of deceit to show, without more, that there has been the breach of an executory promise; yet the breach of an executory promise came to have a remedy in our law because it was held to be a deceit. These changes or most of them have been wrought by judges. The men who wrought them use the same tools as the judges of today. The changes, as they were made in this case or that, may not have seemed momentous in the making. The result, however, when the process was prolonged throughout the years, has not been merely to supplement or modify; it has been to revolu- Rh