His knowledge of Roman and foreign law, and the general width of his education, freed him from the danger of relying too exclusively upon narrow precedents, and afforded him a storehouse of principles and illustrations, while the grasp and acuteness of his intellect enabled him to put his judgments in a form which almost always commanded assent.
Strickland desired to replace bureaucratic government by a system more in touch with the independent gentlemen of the country, and to introduce English ideas and precedents.
For this there were republican precedents.
The council of Constance, and the deposition of John XXIII., were satisfactory precedents still remembered by the world.
Strickland preferred legislation to the covering up of difficulties by governors' licences and appeals to incongruous precedents.
