[1125] Heineccii Opera xiv. 203. He prefers the Observationes atque Emendationes of Cujacius to all his other works. These contain twenty-eight books, published, at intervals, from the year 1556. They were designed to extend to forty books.
[1126] Respublica Jurisconsultorum, p. 237. Intactum in jurisprudentia reliquit nihil, et quæ scribit, non tam ex aliis excerpta, quam a se inventa, sane fatentur omnes; ita omnia suo loco posita, non nimis protracta, quæ nauseam creant, non arcte ac jejune tractata, quæ explicationis paullo diffusioris pariunt desiderium. Candida perspicuitate brevis, elegans sub amabili simplicitate, caute eruditus, quantum patitur occasio, ubique docens, ne aliqua parte arguatur otiosus, tam nihil habet inane, nihil inconditum, nihil curtum, nihil claudicans, nihil redundans, amœnus in Observationibus, subtilis in Tractatibus, uber ac planus in Commentariis, generosus in refellendis objectis, accuratus in confingendis notis, in Paratitlis brevis ac succi plenus, rectus prudensque in Consultationibus.
[1127] Heinecc. xiv. 209. Gennari, p. 199.
Cujacius, an interpreter of law rather than a lawyer. 78. Such was the renown of Cujacius that, in the public schools of Germany, when his name was mentioned, every one took off his hat.[1128] The continual bickerings of his contemporaries, not only of the old Accursian school, among whom Albericus Gentilis was prominent in disparaging him, but of those who had been trained in the steps of Alciat like himself, did not affect this honest admiration of the general student.[1129] But we must not consider Cujacius exactly in the light of what we now call a great lawyer. He rejected all modern forensic experience with scorn, declaring that he had misspent his youth in such studies. We have, indeed, fifty of his consultations which appear to be actual cases. But, in general, it is observed by Gravina that both he and the greatest of his disciples “are but ministers of ancient jurisprudence, hardly deigning to notice the emergent questions of modern practice. Hence, while the elder jurists of the school of Bartolus, deficient as they are in expounding the Roman laws, yet apply them judiciously to new cases, these excellent interpreters hardly regard anything modern, and leave to the others the whole honour of advising and deciding rightly.” Therefore he recommends that the student who has imbibed the elements of Roman jurisprudence in all their purity from the school of Cujacius, should not neglect the interpretations of Accursius in obscure passages; and, above all, should have recourse to Bartolus and his disciples for the arguments, authorities, and illustrations which ordinary forensic questions will require.[1130]
[1128] Gennari, p. 246. Biogr. Univ.
[1129] Heineccius, ibid. Gennari, p. 242.
[1130] Gravina, p. 222, 230.
French lawyers below Cujacius; Govea and others. 79. At some distance below Cujacius, but in places of honour, we find among the great French interpreters of the civil law in this age, Duaren, as devoted to ancient learning as Cujacius, but differing from him by inculcating the necessity of forensic practice to form a perfect lawyer;[1131] Govea, who, though a Portuguese, was always resident in France, whom some have set even above Cujacius for ability, and of whom it has been said that he is the only jurist who ought to have written more;[1132] Brisson, a man of various learning, who became in the seditions of Paris an unfortunate victim of his own weak ambition; Balduin, a strenuous advocate for uniting the study of ancient history with that of law; Godefroi, whose Corpus Juris Civilis makes an epoch in jurisprudence, being the text-book universally received; and Connan, who is at least much quoted by the principal writers on the law of nature and nations. The boast of Germany was Gifanius.
[1131] Duarenus ... sine forensis exercitationis præsidio nec satis percipi, nec recte commodeque doceri jus civile existimate. Gennari, p. 179.
[1132] Goveanus ... vir, de quo uno desideretur, plura scripsisse, de cæteris vero, pauciora.... quia felix ingenio, naturæ viribus tantum confideret, ut diligentiæ laudem sibi non necessariam, minus etiam honorificam putare videatur. Gennari, p. 281.