Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 17.djvu/102

96 and white is pyed, and, vice versa, pyed is black and white.

If therefore black and white horses are devised, pyed horses shall pass by such devise; but black and white horses are devised; ergo, the pl. shall have the pyed horses.

Catlyne Serjeant: moy semble al ' contrary, the plaintiff shall not have the pyed horses by intendment; for if by the devise of black and white horses, not only black and white horses, but horses of any colour between these two extremes may pass, then not only pyed and gray horses, but also red or bay horses would pass likewise, which would be absurd and against reason. And this is another strong argument in law, Nihil, quod est contra rationem, est licitum: for reason is the life of the law, nay the common law is nothing but reason; which is to be understood of artificial perfection and reason gotten by long study, and not of man's natural reason; for nemo nascitur artifex, and legal reason est summa ratio; and therefore if all the reason that is dispersed into so many different heads, were united into one, he could not make such a law as the law of England; because by many successions of ages it has been fixed and refixed by grave and learned men; so that the old rule may be verified in it, Neminem oportet esse legibus sapentiorem.

As therefore pyed horses do not come within the intendment of the bequest, so neither do they within the letter of the words.

A pyed horse is not a white horse, neither is a pyed