Item 106 - Letter from F. W. Maitland to Henry Sidgwick

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Reports that he has been reading Sidgwick's proof sheets [for The Elements of Politics?] 'with interest and delight', and that he has 'little to suggest.' Judged the chapter on law and morality to be particularly good. States that if he were writing the book that he would 'hedge' a little about continental notions of law. Relates that since he was talking to Sidgwick that he has been reading several German law books, and that his view of the duties of a German judge 'is all the more hazy.' Notes that a jurist 'even when he is writing about elementary legal ideas, e.g., possession will cite 'Entscheidungen der ob[ersten] Geshichte of von Celle, Darmstadt, [Rostock]' etc. if he thinks them sound'. Refers to the notion of a '[hertige] römische Recht', which he contends has rendered everything so vague. Claims that according to the English idea of a good judge, 'he does justice when he sees and oportunity of doing it', and that 'a man could be a judge of quite the highest order without a strong feeling for positive morality.' Suggests that Sidgwick might add that the English highest courts of appeal, House of Lords and Judicial Committee 'hold themselves bound by their own decisions in earlier cases. As regards different laws in different parts of a country, cites the advantages gained by experience, and the positive effect Scotch experience has had on English law, and vice versa. Praises the chapter on International Law and Morality, and comments on the great difficulty there exists in obtaining a body of international rules deserving the name of law.