Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/764

 750 V. BENCH AND BAR His first judicial service was as judge of the Consistory Court of London, where for ten years he dehvered discourses on the regulation of the domestic forum which are exemplary ahke in morals and in taste. In this jurisdiction, involving the most sacred rights of individuals and the best interests of society, his benevolent wisdom is indelibly recorded. Such cases as Dalyrymple v. Dalyrymple, on the nature, origin and sanctity of marriage; Evans v. Evans, the first great case on cruelty; Loveden v. Loveden; Sullivan v. Sullivan, and many others to be found in the contemporary reports of Haggard and Phillimore, are rare specimens of legal philosophy and practical ethics- In the case of Evans v. Evans, for instance, he benevolently points out to the parties the limits of his powers : " The humanity of the court has been loudly and re- peatedly invoked. Humanity is the second virtue of courts, but undoubtedly the first is justice. If it were a question of humanity simply, and of humanity which confined its means merely to the happiness of the present parties, it would be a question easily decided upon first impressions. Everybody must feel a wish to separate those who wish to live separate from each other, who cannot live together with any degree of harmony and, consequently, with any degree of happiness ; but my situation does not allow me to indulge in the feelings, much less the first feelings, of an individual. The law has said that married persons shall not be legally separated upon the mere disinclination of one or both to cohabit together. The disinclination must be founded upon reasons which the law approves, and it is my duty to see whether these reasons exist in the present case. To vindicate the policy of the law is no necessary part of the office of a judge; but if it were, it would not be difficult to show that the law in this respect has acted with its usual wisdom and humanity, with that true wisdom and that real humanity that regards the general interests of mankind. For though in particular cases the repugnance of the law to dissolve the obligations of matrimonial cohabitation may operate with great severity upon individuals, yet it must be carefully remembered that the general happiness of the married life is secured by its