But it is not necessary to cite the Court of Appeal to prove that even learned lawyers make mistakes in law. It is sufficient to mention Lord Campbell, who in his ‘Shakespeare’s Legal Acquirements Considered,’ has made several mistakes in law, a few of which I have noticed in Archiv. f. n. Sprachen and in ‘Shakespeare’s Testamentary Language,’ published in the year 1869. The Appendix B. of that book concludes with these words: ‘We all know that Lord Campbell was a lawyer of great experience, yet in his “Shakespeare’s Legal Acquirements Considered” he has made several mistakes in law. How, then, could any errors in law which I might find in Shakespeare’s works afford conclusive evidence that Shakespeare was not a lawyer?’ 4 ULLET ROAD, DINGLE, LIVERPOOL, _Long Vacation, 1907_. SHAKESPEARE’S LEGAL MAXIMS. Qui genus humanum ingenio superavit, et omnis Restinxit, stellas exortus uti aerius sol. _Lucretius._ The lawyer, when he reads attentively the works of William Shakespeare, may not be more surprised by the poet’s correct use of law terms, and intimate acquaintance with legal customs and tenures, and the lex scripta, than by his extensive and profound knowledge of the maxims of the English law. _Portia._ To offend and judge are distinct offices, And of opposed natures. _Merchant of Venice_, Act iii. Scene 1. _Queen Katherine._ I do believe, Induc’d by potent circumstances, that You are mine enemy; and make my challenge You shall not be my judge: for it is you Have blown this coal betwixt my lord and me,—Which God’s dew quench!—Therefore I say again, I utterly abhor, yea, from my soul Refuse you for my judge; whom yet once more I hold my malicious foe, and think not At all a friend to truth. _Henry VIII._, Act ii. Scene 4. Nemo debet esse judex in suâ propriâ causâ (12 Rep. 113). No one ought to be a judge in his own cause. It is a fundamental rule in the administration of justice that a man cannot be judge in a cause in which he is interested (per cur. 2 Stra. 1173). Nemo sibi esse judex vel suis jus dicere debet (C. 3, 5, 1).