courts, which
requires, certainly, a knowledge of special pleading, no one can read
the old English reports and text books with much profit, who is
ignorant of the principles of that science.
A class of business peculiar to new territories and states arises from
the land laws. A great many pre-emption cases are contested before the
land officers, in which the services of lawyers are required. This
fact will partly explain why there are, generally, so many lawyers
located in the vicinity of a land office. In a community that is newly
settled the title to property must often be in dispute; and however
much averse people may be to going to law, they find it frequently
indispensable, if they wish to have their rights settled on a firm
basis.
The opinion prevails almost universally in the East that a lawyer can
do best in the West. In some respects he can. If he cannot do a good
deal better, he is not compensated for going. I had the pleasure of a
conversation last summer with one of the most eminent members of the
New York bar (Mr.
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