intimate touch with the principles of jurisprudence, being more arduously trained and more thoroughly grounded in the law at the same time that they have also presumably a larger endowment of legal acumen, — these higher
' E.g., as to employer's liability for accidents or unitanilary prpintses. the safeguarding of machiner;, ago limit of laboren or hour limit oE norkiog time, elc
courts speak more unequivocally for the metaphysical principles and apply them with a surer and firmer touch. In the view of these higher adepts of the law, free contract is so inalienable a natural right of man that not even a statutory enactment will enable a workman to forego its exercise and its reBponsibility, By metaphysical necessity its exercise attaches to the individual so indefeasibly tliat it cannot constitutionally be delegated to collective action, whether legislative or I corporate,' This extreme consequence of the principle of natural liberty has at times aroused indignation in the vulgar ; but their grasp of legal principles is at fault. The more closely the logical sequence is followed up, the more convincingly does the legitimacy of such a decision stand out.