from Asia; which would coincide with Richardson's hypothesis, who contends that it was introduced from Tartary. Although speculative reasoning forms no part of my plan, yet when I observe analogy on the subject in the customs of the ancient German tribes, the Franks, or Gothic races, I shall venture to note them. Of one thing there is no doubt—knowledge must have accompanied the tide of migration from the east; and from higher Asia emerged the Asi, the Catti, and the Cimbrii Lombard, who spread the system in Scandinavia, Friesland, and Italy." Nor was this system confined to the continental part of Asia: Mommsen informs us that it prevailed to a great extent in the island of Japan. That the germ of the feudal system first appeared in Asia, is at least highly probable. Its earliest traces have been discovered among the Gothic tribes of Europe. Successive swarms of Goths moved towards the north-western parts of the old world; and when they had subdued many different nations, it may be presumed that they settled the conquered provinces according to some general plan which they had learned in the east. Of the Asiatic tribes it is one great characteristic to adhere, from one century to another, to the customs of their ancestors. This remark is signally verified in the history of the Chinese and Hindus; and it seems applicable to all the other tribes of men who inhabit that quarter of the globe.

Of the early progress of the feudal system, so able a delineation has been given by Dr Stuart, that we are here tempted to introduce a long extract from his work. Having quoted a passage from Tacitus, he proceeds with the subsequent commentary. "This passage abounds in instruction the most important. It informs us that the German had no private property in land, and that it was his tribe which allowed him annually for his support a proportion of territory; that the property of the land was invested in the tribe, and that the lands dealt out to individuals returned to the public, after they had reaped the fruits of them; that, to be entitled to a partition of land from his nation was the distinction of a citizen; and that, in consequence of this partition, he became bound to attend to its defence, and to its glory. With these ideas, and with this practice, the Germans made conquests. In conformity therefore with their ancient manners, when a settlement was made in a province of the empire, the property of the land belonged to the victorious nation, and the brave laid claim to their possessions. A tract of ground was marked out for the sovereign; and, to the inferior orders of men, divisions corresponding to their importance were allotted.

But while, in their original seats, such partitions were annual, it was expedient that they should now be invested in the possessor. A more enlarged idea of property had been gradually unfolding itself; and though it was convenient to, and suited the views of a narrow community, to take back its land, the measure was not practicable in an extensive society. Nations were no longer to shift their habitations. The boundaries of particular states were to be respected. The tribe ceasing to wander, the individual was also to be stationary. The lot or partition now received by him, was to continue in his possession, and to be an object of his industry. He was to take root, if I may so speak, in a particular spot. He was to bestow on it his affection; it was to feed and to enrich him with its produce. His family was to feel an interest in his estate; his sons were to succeed him. Heirs were to fall in the blood of the proprietor. It affected him, that the crown or a stranger should possess the subject of his toils and attentions. The powers of sale and donation came to be understood. The right of holding a landed territory with no limitation, and of disposing of it at pleasure, was known and prevailed.... When we mount up to the origin of customs, we are to be struck with their simplicity. The lot or partition to the sovereign was to constitute his domains. It was to support his splendour, to defray the expenses of government, and to maintain his household. The lot or partition to the individual was to give rise to allodiality. It was the land which was free, in contradistinction to tenure; and, being still the mark of a citizen, it subjected him as in Germany, to the general obligation of taking arms in defence of the community. But the domains of the sovereign, and the lands of lot or partition to the people, could not exhaust all the territory of a conquest. They were principal and natural objects of attention; yet, after their appointment, there were much extensive property, and many fair possessions. The ancient maxims of the people did not allow them to seize these by a precarious occupation. Men who had connected the property of land with the tribe, and not with the individual, could not conceive any title in consequence of which they might arrogate possessions to humour their fancy, or to flatter their pride. Their ancient notions continued their operation; the community was concerned with what no man could claim. The lands accordingly which were assigned neither to the sovereign nor to the people, which formed not the domains of the former, nor the partitions of the latter, were the lands of the state or the fiscus."

1 Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India, vol. i. p. 132. Lond. 1829-32, 2 vols. 4to.

2 "Illud obiter dixerim, apud Japonenses nil videri esse frequentius quam foeda. Cum enim bellis perpetuo in ea ingenti insula principes inter se contendant, antiquo inter eos more, quae unusquisque bello obtinet, continuo dividit inter suas duces, et alios qui dilligit, cum omne sibi serviendo in bello, et alia omnis praebat; statuque dominos de uno loco in alium, auterendo ab eis qua possidebant, et alia ei largiendi. Majores autem duxibus sub supremo aliquo principe ita constituti, diversa habent loca, quibus dominantur, in aliis sibi inferiores, cum eisdem omnibus sibi inserviendi in bello et praestandi alla realia onera, et illi in aliis, quoque devenerunt ad influisse fines, quos ipsi fecerant, qui similitur dominantur unusquisque in suo oppido, et similis fere lage, ut vassalli ipsi sumant continentur in bello, et servitia alla realia praestent. Mores tamen et usus fudderum non idem, sed diversi in aliquibus sunt apud ipsos ab ilis qui in Germania, Gallia, et Italia vigent." (Molina de Justitia et Jure, tom. ii. col. 1062. edit. Mogunt. 1659, 6 tom. fol.)

3 Tacitus de Moribus Germanorum, cap. xxvi.

4 "The allodial lands," as Dr Stuart remarks, "were enjoyed in full property, and are therefore opposed to feudal or beneficiary possessions, which were received with limitations, and under the burden of military service to the grantors." The word al-ed is supposed to be equivalent to all-hood, and therefore to indicate completeness of possession. It is synonymous with mald, which is employed to denote the right of such lands in Orkney and Zetland; "whereby," as Lord Stair has stated, "without any infirmity, investiture, or other right or writ, they enjoy lands and hereditaments." (Institutions of the Law of Scotland, b. ii. tit. ii. § 11.) See likewise Lord Bankton's Institute of the Laws of Scotland, vol. i. p. 541. This word is evidently borrowed from the ancient Norwegian language. In the Icelandic language, edal signifies allodial property, but it also signifies ver ardelecta. (Haldorsonii Lexicon Islandicum, vol. ii. p. 121.) It is not therefore improbable that the term was originally applied to lands which, having been found deserted, were again claimed.

5 Stuart's View of Society in Europe, p. 24.—It is not the object of this article to attempt a development of the feudal system, but merely a faint outline of the history of the feudal law. Besides the different works which we here have occasion to quote, particularly those of Stuart and Hallam, we may refer the English reader to Dr Robertson's View of Society in Europe, prefixed to his History of Charles V. Du Moulin has traced the origin of the feudal law to the Franks, by whom he supposes it to have been introduced into Gaul. Grutius and other writers have, with greater probability, represented it as having been widely diffused at an early period. Lombardy has frequently been regarded as the place of its origin, because to that country we are indebted for the ancient digest of this consuetudinary law.

The Feudorum Consuetudines are said to have been compiled by Gerardus Niger, who is likewise called Capagustus, and by Obertus de Orto or Horto, who were both lawyers and consuls of Milan. They lived in the reign of Frederick the First, surnamed Barbarossa, which commenced in 1152, and terminated in 1190. Whatever share they might have in preparing the materials, it may perhaps be suspected that they did not digest the work in its present form. Their opinions are on some occasions placed in opposition to each other, and are quoted as if from distinct works. Thus in lib. ii. tit. ii. § 3. "Similiter si quis investitus fuerit de feudo, ut ad ad feminas transiret, et duas filias tantum reliquerit, quorum una filium habeat, et altera filiam; utrum post mortem illarum masculus tantum feudum habebeat? Secundum Gerardum, masculus tantum: Obertus contra." And in § 6 of the same title: "Similiter feudum lege commissoria datum non valeat, id est, si ad certum tempus pecunia non salvatur creditori, ut habeat in feudum. Gerardus. Et secundum Obertum, valeat." On other occasions, both names are subjoined: "Gerardus et Obertus." It might indeed be conjectured that the work was arranged by their joint labour; and that when any difference of opinion occurred, they took care to state it in this formal manner. Du Moulin supposes Obertus to have been the sole compiler. We are assured by Odofredus, a commentator on the Code, who lived about the year 1250, that Hugolimus, otherwise called Hugo a Porta Ravennate, who died in the year 1168, added the feudal law to the ninth collation of the Novels, and that it was received as a tenth collation. Some writers consider the statement as a mere device, intended to enhance the authority of this branch of jurisprudence. The feudal law is commonly subjoined to the Corpus Juris Civilis, of which many of the older civilians regarded it as a component part. "The last tome of the civil law," says Sir Thomas Ridley, "is the Feudes, that is, the books of customes and services that the subject or vassall doth to his prince or lord, for such lands or fees as he holdeth of him."

In the common editions, the Feudorum Consuetudines are divided into two books; but the edition of Cujacius, Colonie, 1588, 8vo, exhibits a new arrangement, with a series of five books. The first book he ascribes to Gerardus, the second and third to Obertus; the fourth is taken from several ancient authors, and the fifth consists of imperial constitutions relative to matters of feudal cognizance. To the common editions in two books, are likewise appended constitutions of several emperors; and two of them, issued by Henry the Seventh, are described by the term Extra-rogantes; a term which is also used in the canon law, to denote documents which wander beyond the limits of a particular collection. The work itself is partly composed of such constitutions; and the entire collection closes with an instrument relative to the peace of Constance, De Pace Constantiae, concluded, on the one part, between the emperor Frederick the First, his son Henry king of the Romans, and certain nobles of Germany, and, on the other, various cities of Lombardy, the march of Ancona, and Romagna.

These books of the feudal law are evidently written by individuals familiar with the doctrines and the phraseology of the civil law; and the new system of jurisprudence may be considered as a scion from the old. The composition necessarily partakes of the general barbarism of the age to which it belongs, nor are the materials reduced to a systematic or lucid form. Some of the more classical civilians have therefore treated this law of Lombardy with the utmost contempt. As to the authority which properly belongs to it, the feudalists have entered into much discussion, and have maintained various opinions. Some of the earlier writers represent it as having been sanctioned by different emperors, particularly by the first three Fredericks, but others consider this sanction as more than doubtful. Craig is induced to suppose that the feudal law must have derived its authority from some imperial rescripts, although they have not descended to our time; for he cannot conceive that the emperors would otherwise have permitted it to be taught in the schools, and observed in the judicatories. Du Moulin, on the other hand, considers the private part of the compilation as unwritten law, "jus non scriptum," adopted at Milan, and the remainder, the constitutions interspersed, as written law, "jus scriptum," retaining its force within the limits of the empire. This appears to be a very sound opinion; nor do we think it necessary to mention the various suggestions and speculations of other writers. In many different countries, this compilation has been received and partly adopted as consuetudinary law, and in all those countries has been modified.

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1 Molinei Commentarii in Parisienses Consuetudines, p. 10. edit. Gener. 1613, fol.—The same opinion is adopted by many other writers, and, among the rest, by Hervé in his Théorie des Matières Féodales et Censuelles, tom. i. p. 2. 2 Grutius de Jure Belli ac Pacis, lib. ii. cap. vii. § 21. See the same illustrious writer's Historia Gothorum, Vandalorum, et Langobardorum, prol. p. 64. Amsl. 1655, 8vo. 3 Panciroli Thesaurus variarum Lectionum utriusque Juris, p. 130. Venetii, 1611, fol. Giphamii Antinomiae Juris Feudalis, p. 29. Francofurti, 1696, 4to. "Manet igitur verum," says Giphanus, "feuda, quoad originem, ad clientelas Romanorum, vel ad homines Romanorum referre posse. Deinde, feuda sunt ex jure Longobardorum, non si spectemus originem, sed si respiciamus ad rerum distinctiones, ordinationes, constitutiones, statuta, que ex meritis et quotidiana observatione Longobardorum fluereunt." 4 Dieck's Literargeschichte des Longobardischen Lehrenrechts. Halle, 1828, 8vo. Laspeyres ueber die Entstehung und älteste Bearbeitung der Libri Feudorum. Berlin, 1830, 8vo. 5 B. G. Struvii Historia Juris, p. 721. Jenae, 1718, 4to. 6 Ridley's View of the Civile and Ecclesiastical Law, p. 68. sec. edit. Oxford, 1634, 4to. 7 See F. A. Biener's Geschichte der Novellen Justinian's, S. 277. Berlin, 1824, 8vo. 8 "Stilus forensis est, qualis jurisconsultorum ejus temporis esse potuit: scripti enim sunt seculo ineruditio, neque fieri potuit quid aliquod ejus secundum vicum conveneretur. Verba ipsa Latina, nisi si quae sint fere propriæ. Phrasis, sive, ut grammatici loquuntur, antiqua Longobardicæ, est, ut facile quisque interpretete sensisse percipere possit. Tunstallianæ sane sunt conscripti, ex adverbae sive schedis Gerardi ob Relictis relictis, ab alio facto. Obertus enim Gerardus, prout quoque facti species occurrerant, consulti quid eo de sententia, scripto declarabant. Haec eorum adversaria, post eorum excessum, aliquis juris feudorum studiosius in libros rediget, sine deletu, sine methodo, quod non est negandum: ita tamen eorum responsa celebrata sunt, et in honore habita, ut pro certo certissimo a posteriori adduc sit urupra." (Cragii Jus Feudale, p. 36.) 9 "Feuda postremo," says Taurellus, "quae non minus barbaro quam inepto, et sibi parum constanti, ac vix modo judicio legis digno volumine continentur." (De Millitis ex casu, ad Ant. Augustinum Epistola, p. 81.) See likewise Gravinae Origines Juris Civilis, p. 163. edit. Mascovii. 10 Molinei Commentarii in Parisienses Consuetudines, p. 24.—See likewise Dux de Usu et Authoritate Juris Civilis, f. 35. b. Bitschii Commentarius in Consuetudines Feudorum, p. 14. G. A. Struvii Syntagma Juris Feudalis, p. 30. fied by tacit usage, or by express enactments, nor has it any other authority except such as it has thus obtained. The Lombardic body of law is described as "Feudorum Consuetudines," and "Jus Feudale commune;" the first title denoting that it is consuetudinary or unwritten law, and the second, that it has obtained more or less authority wherever the feudal law has been adopted.

The substance of these books was digested into a new form by Antonius Minuccius a Prato Veteri, a professor in the university of Bologna, who was born about the year 1380; and his labours are said to have received the sanction of the emperor Sigismund, as they certainly did that of Frederick the Third. Halmoder had originally intended to subjoin it to his edition of the Novels; but it was not till after a long interval that the work was first published by Schilter. Another digest of the same materials was afterwards undertaken by Bartholomeus Baraterius or de Baraterius, who was a native of Piacenza, and was successively a professor at Pavia and Ferrara. Having completed his work in 1442, he dedicated it to the duke of Milan. It was first printed at Paris in the year 1612. Neither of these works seems to have obtained any permanent footing, even in the universities of Italy. The books of the feudal law were exhibited in a German dress by Dr Lorenz Weidmann, who likewise introduced some changes of arrangement. His work, Die Lehenrecht verdeutscht, was printed by Schoffer of Mainz in the year 1530.

The principles of the feudal law had soon begun to be taught in the universities. The text was illustrated by many glosses and commentaries; and many summaries and treatises have from time to time been added. The principal feudalists who preceded his own time, are thus enumerated by Dr Duck: "Herum librorum authoritatem augent egregii illi jurisconsulti qui ad eos glossas, commentarios, et tractatus scripsereant. Glossas in Feuda scripsent Bulgarus, Pyleus, Ugolimus, Vicentius, Jac. Gofredus, aliique; sed Jac. Columbinus eorum ultimum omnes superavit, et post eum, ut Jason, nemo glossas in Feuda scribere tentavit." Alii summam et tractatus de Feudis compositurunt, Odofredus, Jac. de Arena, Hostiensis, Jac. Ardizoni, Zasius, Rebuffus, Hannetonus, Henr. Rosenthal, aliique, qui omnem Feudorum scientiam amplissime tradecerunt. Commentarios in Feuda scripserunt Jac. de Belvisio, Andr. de Iserna, Baldus, Jac. Alvarottus, Math. de Afflictis, Fr. Curtius, Jac. Cujacius, aliique, in quibus eminet Cujaci elegantia et literarum splendor, authoritas et judicium Jac. de Belvisio et Baldi, quorum ille octies se legisse libros Feudorum Papae testatur, Baldus vero commentarios suos scriptis postquam jus civile per quadraginta septem annos professus insignem famam acquisivit. Et inter hos omnes e glossographis Jacobo Columbino, e summis Jacobo Ardizoni, e commentariis Jacobo de Belvisio primus locum ab omnibus conceditur."

To this enumeration some names ought perhaps to have been added, particularly those of Hotman and Vulteius. Of the more recent commentaries on the text, the most copious is that of Caspar Bitsch, professor of law in the university of Strasbourg. Among the systematic treatises which have appeared since the publication of Duck's very useful work, it may be proper to mention the elder Struve's Syntagma Juris Feudalis, which contains much information in a form not very elegant or attractive. Many elementary works, such as those of Schilter, Stryk, and G. L. Böhmer, and an immense number of detached dissertations, have from time to time been published in Germany, where every province of jurisprudence is most laboriously cultivated. Of separate tracts on the feudal law, an ample collection was published in Jenichen. Various writers treat of this law as it has been adopted and modified in different countries. Thus the feudal law, as applied in Scotland, has been illustrated with much learning and ability by Sir Thomas Craig, one of the greatest lawyers whom his country has produced. One of the earliest books on the law of England is Thomas Littleton's treatise on tenures; and the feudal law of that country was afterwards discussed by Sir Henry Spelman, Sir Martin Wright, Sir Jeffrey Gilbert, and various other writers.

In France the feudal law was embodied in the loi coutumier of different provinces; and many curious reliques of jurisprudence have thus been preserved. The most interesting of these are perhaps the Coutumes de Beauvaisis, digested by Philippe de Beaumanoir. Montesquieu has described it as an admirable work, and has quoted it upon many different occasions. "This treatise of Beaumanoir," says Mr Barrington, "is so systematical and complete, and throws so much light upon our ancient common law, that it cannot be too much recommended to the perusal of the English antiquary, historian, or lawyer. He kept the courts of the Comte de Clermont, and gives an account of the customary laws of Beauvaisis (which is a district about forty miles to the northward of Paris) as they prevailed in the year 1283. He is consequently a more ancient writer than Littleton, and, to speak with all due reverence of this father of our law, perhaps a better writer. It need hardly be said that the customs of..." the two countries were at this time very similar, especially of the more northern parts of France: if we wanted other proof, the commentators on the oldest French law books cite Littleton as illustrating their customs. Of the customary laws of France the other collections are very numerous. Nor must we here neglect to particularize a very curious relique of early jurisprudence, the Assises de Jerusalem, which are decidedly of a French origin. After the conquest of the holy city in the year 1099, the barons who led the crusade elected Godefroy de Bouillon king of Jerusalem; and it was one of the new sovereign's first cares to form a body of laws for the government of his subjects. By the counsel of the patriarch, and of his princes and barons, "et des plus sages hommes qu'il pooit avoir," he appointed wise men to make enquiry as persons from different countries as to the particular usages of those countries. Having received the desired information in writing, he again assembled his principal adherents; and having laid this document before them, and caused it to be read, he afterwards, with their counsel and concurrence, selected what to him seemed good, "et en fit assises et usages que l'on deust tenir et maintenir, et user au royaume de Jerusalem, par lesquels il, ses gens, et son peuple, et toutes autres manières des gens alans, et venans, et demorans, fussent gouvernés et menés à droit et à raison el dit royaume." They were called Assises from the circumstance of their having thus been confirmed in an assembly of the chief persons of the state. They were afterwards modified and enlarged by this king and his successors; and about the year 1250 were arranged by Jean d'Iselin, Comte de Japhe et d'Ascalon, Seigneur de Rames et de Baruth. Having been adopted in the kingdom of Cyprus, they were revised in the year 1369 by sixteen individuals nominated in an assembly of the estates of that kingdom. They had been translated into Greek for the benefit of those subjects who did not understand the original language; and of this version some portions have been preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. After Cyprus had fallen under the dominion of the Venetians, the book was translated into the Italian language. It is generally admitted that the laws thus adopted in the kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus, were in a great measure derived from the customs and usages of the kingdom of France.

The feudal system seems to have arrived at maturity during the reign and in the dominions of Charlemagne and his immediate successors. The reliques of their legislation are to be found in the Capitularia Regum Francorum, of which we have given a separate account. As the empire of Charlemagne not only included France and Germany, but likewise a great portion of Italy, and some portion of Spain, a certain uniformity of laws and usages was naturally promoted by this political union. "Feudal tenures," it is stated by Mr Hallam, "were so general in the kingdom of Aragon, that I reckon it among the monarchies which were founded upon that basis. Charlemagne's empire, it must be remembered, extended as far as the Ebro. But in Castille and Portugal they were very rare, and certainly could produce no political effect. Benefices for life were sometimes granted in the kingdoms of Denmark and Bohemia. Neither of these, however, nor Sweden, nor Hungary, comes under the description of countries influenced by the feudal system. That system, however, after all these limitations, was so extensively diffused, that it might produce confusion, as well as prolixity, to pursue the collateral branches of its history in all the countries where it prevailed. The prevalence of the feudal law in Lombardy has already been mentioned; and it sooner or later extended its influence to almost every corner of Italy, including the islands as well as the continental states. In England and Scotland it struck a very deep and vigorous root. Its progress in the former country seems to be correctly stated by Blackstone. "This feudal polity," he remarks, "which was thus by degrees established over all the continent of Europe, seems not to have been received in this part of our island, at least not universally, and as a part of the national constitution, till the reign of William the Norman. Not but that it is reasonable to believe, from abundant traces in our history and laws, that even in the times of the Saxons, who were a swarm from what Sir William Temple calls the same northern hive, something similar to this was in use; yet not so exclusively, nor attended with all the rigour that was afterwards imported by the Normans. For the Saxons were firmly settled in this island, at least as early as the year 600; and it was not till two centuries after, that feuds arrived to their full vigour and maturity, even on the continent of Europe." Craig supposes the feudal law to have been established in Scotland before it was established in England; but this is an opinion which apparently must continue to rest on conjecture, and not on historical evidence.

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1 Barrington's Observations on the more ancient Statutes, p. 439. 2 See Dupin's edition of Camus's Lettres sur la Profession d'Avocat, tom. ii., p. 190. 3 See Johann Paul Reinhard's volständige Geschichte des Königreichs Cypern, Erlangen und Leipzig, 1766-8, 2 Bde. 4to. 4 Le Assise & bene Vanzze del Reame de Hyerusalem, Venezia, 1633, fol. The volume concludes with the following colophon: "A laude & honor del Omnipotente Dio, finisce il presente libro, qual è de le Assise & bene Vanzze del Reame de Hierusalem, stampato in Venetia, regnante l'inceto Mester Andrea Gritti, Doxe di Venetia, nelli anni de la Nativita del Signor nostro MDXXXV. del mese de Marzo, in la stamparia di Aurelio Piccolo Venetiano." The name of the translator is Florio Bustron. This translation contains both the laws which relate to L'alta Corte and those which relate to La Corte de i Borgerei. Both parts may be found in the collection of Canciani, Barbarorum Leges antiquae, vol. ii. p. 479, vol. v. p. 107. Venetiae, 1781-92, 5 tom. fol. 5 See Dansk Lehre Ret af Peder Kofoed Anchor, Kjøbenhavn, 1777, 8vo. 6 Sternehoek de Jure Svecicum et Gothorum vetusto, p. 276. Holmiae, 1682, 4to. 7 Hallam's View of the Middle Ages, vol. ii., p. 291. 8 The Sicilians, says Mr Heydon, "are biased; that they retain more of the feudal government than any nation in Europe. The shadow indeed remains, but the substance is gone long ago." (Tour through Sicily and Malta, vol. ii., p. 225. Lond. 1773, 2 vols. 8vo.) 9 Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol. ii., p. 48. See likewise Dr Sullivan's Historical Treatise on the Feudal Law, and the Constitution and Laws of England, p. 18. Lond. 1772, 4to. 10 Craig's Jus Feudale, p. 47. Brussii Principia Juris Feudalis, p. 47. Edinb. 1713, 8vo. See Dr Stuart's Observations concerning the Public Law and the Constitutional History of Scotland, p. 7. Edinb. 1779, 8vo. Lord Kames, whose speculations often rest upon a very insecure foundation, is pleased to express himself in the following terms: "I entertain some doubts whether the feudal law was introduced into Scotland so early as in the reign of Malcolm II. What to me brought this thing first under suspicion, is a fact that can be made extremely evident. When one dives into the antiquities of Scotland and England, it will appear that we borrowed all our laws and customs from the English. No sooner is a statute enacted in England, but, upon the first opportunity, it is introduced into Scotland; so that our oldest statutes are mere copies of theirs. Let the Magna Charta be put into the hands of any Scotsman, without giving its history, and he will have no doubt that he is reading a collection of Scots statutes or regulations. Now it is a point settled among the best English antiquaries, that the feudal law was introduced into England by William the Conqueror. I need not spend time upon this topic, after what is said by the accurate Spelman, and by our countryman Craig. Joining these two things together, a strong presumption arises, that the feudal law made its progress from England to this country, as all the English statutes, making improvements and alterations upon it, certainly did. But this presumption receives additional force, FEVER is the term applied to a class of diseases characterized generally by increased heat of surface, frequency of pulse, and disturbance of the various functions. All fevers, whatever be their nature, usually commence with general feelings of illness, such as restlessness, irritability, languor, pain in the back and all the joints, sensations of coldness, even though the body may feel hotter than usual, generally terminating in shivering more or less severe; the features assume a peculiar and shrunken appearance, and the eye is muddy and more or less injected. This cold stage is usually followed by a hot one, when the skin has a dry burning sensation, with hot dry tongue, increased pulse, &c.; and this stage again terminates in a more or less copious sweating, which forms the third stage of the disease. These three stages may be passed through in one day, after which the person may be restored to health. The malady is then termed a "weed" or ephemeral fever. On the other hand, these three stages may recur day after day at stated intervals, when the disease is styled an intermittent fever. The malady, however, may continue many days without being marked by the occurrence of remissions or intermissions, when it is termed a continued fever. When this last form is attended with marked eruptions or rashes on the skin, the disease receives the name of an eruptive fever. Fevers are hence conveniently divided into three distinct classes.

1. Continued fevers, as typhus; 2. Periodic fevers, as ague and yellow fever; 3. Eruptive fevers, as smallpox, measles, and scarlet fever.

Of all classes of disease fevers are the most common, and not only attend in one or other of their forms almost every derangement and injury of the human body, but by their mortality they constitute one of the chief outlets of life. When they rage as epidemics or epidemics they are among the most severe and fatal of diseases. In intertropical regions, after the subsidence of the rains, when the almost vertical sun causes the malarious exhalations to arise in prodigious quantities, all the low-lying districts become so unhealthy that no white man exposed to their influence escapes fever in one form or other, and even the black races suffer severely.

All fevers when they appear as epidemics seem to have certain features in common, whether they belong to the class of continued, periodic, or eruptive fevers. Thus the virulence of all is increased by the want of cleanliness and of ventilation in the dwelling, by the overcrowding in a confined space or dwelling, by the want of personal cleanliness, by the use of indigestible or unwholesome food, by residence in a damp low-lying locality, or where exhalations from damp ground, from putrescent heaps, from marshes, drains, or ditches abound. Hence the prevalence of fevers in all marshy districts; hence the mortality from fevers in armies when kept long encamped on the same spot of ground; hence the ravages of fever among our overcrowded and under-fed lower classes, and among the Irish in the late fever epidemics. A certain elevation of temperature, combined with the miasmatic exhalations from damp grounds, appears to be necessary to the existence of certain forms of fever. Thus yellow fever north of the equator only breaks out after the heavy rains of July and August, when the ground, saturated with the heavy rains, begins to throw off copious exhalations under the influence of the almost vertical sun. It scarcely ever appears where the mean temperature of the months during which it breaks out is below 70° Fahr., or where the ground is 2500 feet above the level of the sea; hence it chiefly appears only during the months of September and October. South of the line, the corresponding period when this deadly fever prevails is March and April; and at these periods all low marshy coasts ought to be avoided by whites, as this disease falls with especial severity on them. In more temperate climes, or during the other months of the year in intertropical regions, intermittent fevers (or agues) of more or less severe type, seem to take the place of yellow fever; while typhus fever is the peculiar epidemic of crowded towns and of localities ill-ventilated, ill-drained, or exposed to the miasmata arising from decomposing animal or vegetable matter, in the more temperate regions of the earth.

Much may be done by draining and ventilation for the prevention of fever; and many instances are recorded where both typhus and yellow fever have been almost quite extirpated by improved drainage and ventilation. A large tenement in Glasgow, formerly notorious as a nest for typhus, is an instance of the first, and New York and several towns in North America are instances of the other.

As fevers form the especial scourge of adult life, the means of preventing these attacks merit much attention; and were sanitary measures more rigidly enforced in all our towns it cannot be doubted that the misery, destitution, suffering, and orphanage which prevail so much among the lower classes would be greatly diminished.