Adams Papers
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John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 12 March 1802

John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams

Quincy March 12th. 1802

Dear Sir

I recd. last night, your Letter of the 3d.—1 It was far from my thoughts to assign you a task. I meant only to turn your mind to a Subject, which must necessaryly engage much of your contemplations, as long as you live. The Folc Right, the Peoples Right, the common law, is the natural, Inheritance of Us all. It is our Birth Right. But precious as it is, and dear as it ought to be to all our hearts, it is likely to be a subject of controversy in this country, untill an examination of it, on a large Scale, Shall be undertaken and accomplished by you or Some other, whose Industry may be equal to the Subject. The assistance to be expected from me, must be very Small. I have Scarcely a Law Book of any kind left in my office. It is almost 30 Years since I abandoned my Office and Law Library, and now I have none. My Recollections of the contents of Law Books, you may well Suppose to be very faint confused and incorrect.

A Lawyer, Should have in his Desk, or Bureau, more pidgeon holes, than a Coiner of constitutions. In these he should deposit, in exact, numerical or Alphebetical order, all the Effects of his Researches into moot Points, as well as the States of his Cases and his notes of Arguments or Authorities relative to them. One of these Apartments in your Scrutoire or your Case or Drawers for writings you may dedicate to the common Law, and fill it up with your disquisitions as Slowly or as Swiftly as you please.— And if it Should be growing upon you at intervals for fifty Years; instead of injuring your mind body or estate, it may be of great benefit to the first and last, at least. Hæc Olim meminisse juvabit.— Indocti discant, et ament meminisse periti.2 The Plan indeed is vast, and will require a long time: but nothing presses for haste. The United States and the State of Pennsylvania are now within your reach. See what progress you make in ascertaining the common Law in them. You may pursue the Clue when you shall have Seized it, into other States at your Leisure.

Judge Addisons thoughts may be of Use to you: but figures of Spech are not always Science of Law. Passion Politicks and Eloquence Should always be Studied with diffidence and Jealousy in discussions of Laws and Government. Avail yourself however of every thing that can afford you any light.

Lord Chief Justice Hale, wrote a Book under the Title of An History of the common Law I had it, and Suppose you have it now among my Law Books that I lent you. In this Work, an Octavo Volume well worth your reading, you will find much perhaps to your purpose. Fortesque Aland’s Reports You have among my Books. In a Preface to that Work there is much concerning the Saxon Language and the Saxon Folc Right. Ther is the best Deffinition, or description, or History if you will of the common Law, in that Preface, which I remember to have read. Blackstone took his Account of the common Law from that preface. Reeves’s History of the Law will probably assist you.3

If you look into the Journal of Congress for 1774 you will find a Declation of the Rights of the Colonies and another of the Violations of those Rights— These declarations or Lists were drawn up by two Committees. I was one of the first Committee and drew up the Report. in this you will See, not only the rough materials of the Declaration of Independence made two years after, but you will See in what Light the common Law was Seen by that Congress and by all America at that time. Extracts from these Journals, Should go into your common Law Pidgeon hole. There is a public printed declaration of the Town of Boston Some time anteriour to the meeting of the first congress which will deserve your Attention.4

I can keep no Copies of my Letters to you and therefore I pray you to keep them Safely or to burn them, that they may not fall into the hands of the Ennemy of all good. I am your / affectionate Father

John Adams

RC (private owner, 2008); internal address: “T. B. Adams Esqr.”

1In his 3 March letter to JA, TBA agreed to his father’s suggestion that he undertake a study of common law on the condition that JA assist him with the task. He also noted his satisfaction with U.S. district judge Alexander Addison’s statement that the common law arose from the laws of nature and dictates of God (Adams Papers).

2“It will some day be a joy to recall,” from Virgil’s Aeneid, and “let the unskillful learn, and let the learned improve their recollection,” a common inscription on literary works of the time. The latter quotation appeared on the title page of La Harpe, Lycée; ou, Cours de littérature ancienne et moderne description begins Jean François de La Harpe, Lycée; ou, Cours de littérature ancienne et moderne, 16 vols. in 19, Paris, 1799–1805. description ends , which JA was then reading (Virgil, Aeneid, transl. H. Rushton Fairclough and G. P. Goold, rev. edn., Cambridge, 1999, Book I, line 203; A Dictionary of Quotations, in Most Frequent Use, 2d edn., London, 1798).

3A copy of the 1736 edition of Sir Matthew Hale’s Historia Placitorum Coronæ, 2 vols., London, is in JA’s library at MB. JA also referred to Sir John Fortescue Aland’s preface to Sir John Fortescue’s The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy, 2d edn., London, 1719, p. xx–xxv, which discussed the Saxon origins of common law and was referenced in William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols., Oxford, 1765–1769, 1:65–67. A copy of the original Oxford edition and a 1771–1772 Philadelphia edition are in JA’s library at MB. The final work JA referenced was John Reeves, A History of the English Law, from the Saxons to the End of the Reign of Edward the First, 2 vols., London, 1783–1784 (Catalogue of JA’s Library description begins Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston, Boston, 1917. description ends ).

4The Declaration of Rights and Grievances was adopted by the Continental Congress on 14 Oct. 1774 and listed ten rights that the Congress determined all colonists held, including the right “to life, liberty, and property.” It also detailed recent parliamentary acts that were deemed “infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists” and noted the pending implementation of a trade boycott and the preparation of an address to the inhabitants of Britain and “a loyal address” to George III. JA successfully argued that the document should emphasize the relatively unassailable tenets of natural law over the more tenuous and variable precepts of common law. To support his claim JA pointed to the Nov. 1772 resolutions of the Boston committee of correspondence, which listed grievances against Parliament and detailed colonists’ constitutional rights as Britons. The resolutions were published as The Votes and Proceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, Boston, [1772], Evans, description begins Charles Evans and others, American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America [1639–1800], Chicago and Worcester, Mass., 1903–1959; 14 vols.; rev. edn., www.readex.com. description ends No. 12332. TBA replied to this letter on 18 April 1802 (Adams Papers), noting the “remarkable uniformity in the expressions used” by the Continental Congress’ delegates when they presented their credentials. He also summarized the “leading principles” of the Boston committee of correspondence’s resolutions and further discussed the roles of natural and common law in current legal practice (JA, Papers description begins Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, Gregg L. Lint, Sara Georgini, and others, Cambridge, 1977– . description ends , 2:145–146, 159–163; JCC description begins Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford, Gaillard Hunt, John C. Fitzpatrick, Roscoe R. Hill, and others, Washington, D.C., 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 1:63–73).

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