Consequences cannot alter statutes, but may help to fix their meaning

The law has outgrown its primitive stage of formalism when the precise word was the sovereign talisman, and every slip was fatal. It takes a broader view to-day. A promise may be lacking, and yet the whole writing may be "instinct with an …

Fulfillment may fall short of expectation. At least there has been gained a foothold from which occasion can be seized.

Membership in the bar is a privilege burdened with conditions.

The defendant styles herself "a creator of fashions." Her favor helps a sale. Manufacturers of dresses, millinery and like articles are glad to pay for a certificate of her approval. The things which she designs, fabrics, parasols and what …

Danger invites rescue. … The wrongdoer may not have foreseen the coming of a deliverer. He is accountable as if he had.

Inaction without more is not tantamount to choice.