De feudis theses LVI

through the following reasons. First, because three diseases or vices seem to appear in them, which are far most base: namely, ambiguity, contradiction, and absurdity, for which no one should lack the greatest care in applying some remedy. It seemed that this could not be done inconveniently if a certain public occasion were given for this, which would be an incentive for many men excellent in learning to enter the arena regarding this law and to communicate their most exact and absolute opinions with others. Second, because it cannot be denied that exact knowledge of this material is extremely necessary for those who wish to accommodate themselves to the forum with praise and to persist in the law. For no one who has a circumspect view of the German state in even the smallest part will dare to deny that there is hardly any legal material more customary and frequent in that part of the world. Added to this is the contempt for this same material, although very useful, in the Schools, since we see its province rarely taken up. All these things could not fail to persuade me to leave aside all parts of the written law, from which otherwise most abundant material for disputation could have been taken, and to apply my mind and study to this Law, which is constructed from custom, for the purpose of debate, so that by this reason I might be an occasion for any learned men not only to revise the same but also to compose it and to bring this material, otherwise confused and intricate, into a certain consistency. As this seemed more necessary and apt to me in my selection, so I hope and fully trust that it will be pleasant and desired by all good men.