SHAKESPEARE’S LEGAL MAXIMS. SHAKESPEARE’S LEGAL MAXIMS. BY WILLIAM LOWES RUSHTON, OF GRAY’S INN, BARRISTER-AT-LAW. Corresponding Member of the Berlin Society for the Study of Modern Languages; Corresponding Member of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, U.S.A.; Corresponding Member of the Manchester Shakespeare Society; Author of ‘Shakespeare a Lawyer,’ ‘Shakespeare Illustrated by Old Authors,’ ‘Shakespeare Illustrated by the Lex Scripta,’ ‘Shakespeare’s Testamentary Language,’ ‘Shakespeare’s Euphuism,’ ‘Shakespeare an Archer,’ &c. _Juvat integros accedere fontes atque haurire._ LUCRETIUS. _It is pleasant to handle an untouched subject._ HENRY FIELDING. LIVERPOOL: HENRY YOUNG & SONS, 1907. NOTICE. The first edition of this attempt to illustrate obscure passages in the works of William Shakespeare by legal maxims was published when I was a student-at-law. It was sent to the press for review, and some of the London papers referred to it as a second edition of ‘Shakespeare a Lawyer.’ The only notice I saw of it appeared in the _Liverpool Albion_ as follows:— ‘Not very long since, Mr. Rushton published a pamphlet, “Shakespeare a Lawyer,” which attracted considerable attention in the literary and theatrical world. It is well known that Lord Campbell, some time afterwards, published a similar work, availing himself, without acknowledgment, of Mr. Rushton’s labours, as the _Examiner_ conclusively pointed out. Like its predecessor, this brochure shows the author is deeply read in law.’ On page 100 of ‘William Shakespeare’ by Karl Elze, published in Germany in 1876, the following may be seen:— ‘Lord Campbell, “Shakespeare’s Legal Acquirements,” London, 1859—Vergl. ausserdem W. L. Rushton, “Shakespeare a Lawyer,” London, 1858. Rushton ist schon vor Lord Campbell zu dem gleichen Ergebnisse gekommen wie dieser, wenngleich sich seine Schrift im Uebrigen nicht mit der des letztern messen kann. Beachtung verdienen jedoch Rushton’s Erklärungen der einschlagenden Stellen bei Shakespeare.’ German students of Shakespeare, who are induced by this note to refer to Lord Campbell’s ‘Shakespeare’s Legal Acquirements Considered’ for accurate explanations of the law and law terms they meet with in Shakespeare’s works, will often be misinformed, because that book contains many mistakes in law.