Page:English Law and the Renaissance.djvu/46

 from that of another, and both from that of England. Some colonies will have codes. If English lawyers do not read Australian reports (and they cannot read everything), Australian lawyers will not much longer read English reports.

Still the case is not yet desperate. Heroic things can be done by a nation which means to do them: as witness the mighty effort of science and forbearance which in our own time has unified the law of Germany, and, having handed over the Corpus Juris to the historians, has in some sort undone the work of the Reception. Some venerable bodies may understand the needs of the time, or, if I may borrow a famous phrase, 'the vocation of our age for jurisprudence and legislation.' Our parliament may endeavour to put out work which will be a model for the British world. It can still set an example where it can no longer dictate, and at least it might clear away the rubbish that collects round every body of law. To make