Explanation of the Design and Scope of the Work
Of the Definition of the Law
Of the Division of the Law
Of the Nature of the Law of Private Right
Analytical Outline of the Law of Private Right
Division of the Law of Private Right
Classification of Rights
Classification of Actions
Of the Subject-Matter of Private Right
Definition of Contract and its Place in the Law
Of the Arrangement of the Law, with a View to its Exposition
Of the Nature of Right, and of the Law of Private Right, and their Relation to Each Other
Division of the Subject
Of the Nature of Right
Of the Several Theories of Jurisprudence
Of Right as an Element of the Law
Of Actionable and Non-Actionable, or Juridical and Non-Juridical Rights
Definition of the Law
Historical Verification of the Theory of this Chapter
George Hugh Smith (03.02.1834 – 06.02.1915) was a Confederate Civil War veteran and prominent Los Angeles lawyer, judge and politician.
The following work, being the substance of the general or introductory part of a course of lectures upon the Law of Private Right as administered in this country, delivered before the Los Angeles Law Students Association, owes its origin to a conviction entertained by the author that the theory of jurisprudence now generally prevailing in England and in this country is fundamentally erroneous, and that to this is to be attributed, as to a common source, the loose and inaccurate character of our modern text-books and judicial decisions, the low standard of professional education, the uncertainty in the administration of justice, and the generally unsatisfactory condition of the law in all its aspects at the present day. In the following pages I have attempted to expose the radical errors of the theory referred to, and also to expound the true theory of the law, which, though generally recognized by the jurists of other countries and former ages, seems, since the time of Austin, to have been lost to the profession in this country and England, and, indeed, to the English-speaking race generally. How far I have succeeded, it is not for me to say. But I may, at least, claim for the work whatever its merits or demerits in other respects that it is a pioneer on the road that must be traveled before any improvement in the existing degenerate state of the law, and of its literature, can be looked for. George H.Smith.