We must recall much of the jurisprudence of the
last century. And yet the juristic thought of that
time was not wholly in vain. It may teach us that
there are inherent limitations on what may be
achieved through law and inherent limitations upon
the efficacy of effort in conscious lawmaking; that
for the greatest part law must always be found
through application of reason to causes as they arise
and the testing of principles in their actual operation;
that laws are not like clothes to be thrown off and
replaced at will, but, like language are so intimately
a part of all we do that development of the tradi-
tional materials will always be the chief agency of
growth. Used to temper the enthusiasm of a new
period of liberalization, the philosophy of law of
the last century may yet save us from the excesses of
the stage of equity and natural law, a reaction where-
from had so much to do with the rigidity of the
law under which we live.

-165-