20 CRAPSTER v. GRIFFITH.—2 BLAND.

cannot permit itself to indulge in any such wide range of review,
or great latitude of construction.

When a decision is adduced as a precedent, affording evidence
and illustration of the principles of equity, which it is urged should
govern a new case, then under consideration, unless the rule be
unambiguous and clear, it is certainly At and proper to attend to
all the circumstances upon which it is founded; and also to under-
stand the reasons and arguments by which the mind of the Court
was brought to the conclusion which hgas been recorded as its
judgment. Because in such instances the only object is to ascer-
tain what is the law applicable to the case under consideration,
which law docs not consist in particular cases; but in general
principles which run through and govern them. The principle is
the thing which is to be extracted from cases, and to be applied to
other cases.

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