Excerpt from The Provinces of the Written and the Unwritten Law: An Address; Delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association, at White Sulphur Spring, July 25, 1889 When I was invited to address this Association which so well represents the Bar of this ancient Commonwealth, upon the occasion of its Annual Meeting, I was somewhat perplexed to determine what particular topic, if any, should form the theme of my discourse. I might have sought to amuse, without taxing your attention, by some slender chain of discursive allusion to the trials, the labors, the satisfactions, the disappointments and the humors which diversify our professional lives; or I might have attempted a discussion of some questions of greater moment upon which all lawyers ought to hold opinions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.