The impulsive desire to save human life when in peril is one of the most beneficial instincts of humanity, and is nowhere more salutary in its result… - Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet

When a man is asked if he is an esquire, and he answers that he is an esquire, the general understanding is that he is a person of no profession or occupation.

A Judge cannot set himself above the law which he has to administer, or make or mould it to suit the exigencies of a particular occasion.

In a criminal proceeding the question is not alone whether substantial justice has been done, but whether justice has been done according to law. All proceedings in poenam are, it need scarcely be observed, strictissimi juris; nor should it be forgotten that the formalities of law, though here and there they may lead to the escape of an offender, are intended on the whole to insure the safe administration of justice and the protection of innocence, and must be observed. A party accused has the right to insist on them as matter of right, of which he cannot be deprived against his will; and the Judge must see that they are followed.