in the civil law, is the rendering up by an insolvent debtor of his property for the use of his creditors; and the term has hence come to be applied to that relaxation from the rigour of the law which the debtor obtains on making a surrender of his property. It has thus entered into the nomenclature of the modern systems derived from the civil law, with some variation of meaning. In France the Cession de Biens is a step in the bankruptcy system. (Code de Commerce, liv. iii. tit. ii.) In Scotland the process which corresponds with the English insolvent debtors' system, and gives a modified relief to bankrupts not connected with commerce, is called Cessio Bonorum. It is regulated by statute (6th and 7th Will. IV., cap. 56). See, for farther information on the modern application of the law of cessio, the two heads Bankruptcy and Insolvency. The relaxation of the Roman law, which relieved the debtor from the cruel operation of the older system, on his making a general cession of his goods, is generally attributed to Julius Cæsar. The operation of the system and the writings of the jurists did much to illustrate for modern adoption and practice the principles on which a sound insolvent debtors' system should be founded. See some curious notices in Heineccius ad Pan., lib. xlii. tit. 2; and the 3rd title of the forty-second book of the Pandects.