Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/378

 364 //. FROM THE llOO'S TO THE 1800'S only, for cases frequently arise which the best legislation can- not count upon having provided for, and which it needs not only technical skill but also a philosophic grasp of principles on the part of the bar and bench to conduct to a solution. The experience of the ancient world and that of the Middle Ages throws little light upon them. But as they have ap- peared simultaneously in many modern nations, each may have something to learn from the others. Comparative juris- prudence has no more interesting field than this : nor is there any task in labouring on which an enlightened mind may find a wider scope for the devotion of learning and thought to the service of the community. I am tempted to venture on some other predictions as to the influences that may be expected to work on the legal changes of the coming century. But we have been pursuing an historical, not a speculative, inquiry, and it will be enough to suggest that industry and commerce, as quickened by the progress of physical science, are likely to be factors of in- creasing power, and that the purely political element in the development of law will count for less than that contributed by the effort to readjust social conditions and to give effect to social aspirations.