not one in fact. The three Common Law Courts at Westminster—the King's Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer had long ago become in a great degree separate Courts of one division or section of tribunals. The union of these and other Courts into a single Supreme Court was, therefore, little more than the giving them a new name, though, as regards procedure, the amalgamation was the means of rendering it more simple and uniform. The Act of 1873 therefore did not alter the manner in which legal changes had hitherto occurred in England, though it was nominally, at any rate, a remarkable historical break. Yet permanent as has been not only the general body of law, but the system of civil and criminal procedure, neither the one nor the other has ever failed-perhaps sometimes tardily—to respond to the demands of the public. This has occurred in spite of the force of professional opinion which has been very conservative, and even during the Commonwealth, at a time peculiarly favourable for legal changes, was able to embarrass to some extent the efforts of law reformers. In truth, English law has always been susceptible to external influences, and on its commercial side absorbed principles and rules which had grown into customs among traders on the Mediterranean and on the North Sea which, as we have also seen, were enunciated in distant European towns. From the fact that it is largely composed of judicial precedents it has also felt and shown in a marked degree, at certain times, the influence of individual members of the Bench. At the end of the eighteenth and in the first half of the nineteenth century this influence was most apparent, because the courts were then so constituted that judicial individuality had plenty of play. Legislation had not yet raised innumerable points for judicial discussion, and there was ample opportunity for the statement of legal principles; it was an age of "leading cases." But this judicial influence would not have had so much effect, if the legal system had not from its beginning been highly centralised, and at work in a country of small size, so that a judicial decision had all the power of a legislative enactment. By the House of Commons English law has been criticised and protected, and law and procedure alike exemplify the beneficent effects of popular government, and sometimes also its defects. In the history of Bankruptcy legislation we see an excellent example of the influence of Parliament-reflecting the changes of public opinion on a branch of law the substance of which has always been statutory, though it has received innumerable judicial glosses. Throughout the ages English law has been constantly in a state of slow evolution, and, trifling as some of the changes appeared at the time-if we review the centuries which lie between to-day and the Anglo-Saxon epoch-we are struck with the importance of the results of the aggregate of small things. Of all the influences which have affected civil law the most important appears, as was to be expected in this country, to be that of commerce: in some form or other, it was always making itself felt with increasing force, and constantly enlarging the body of the common law, and, as we have noted-as illustrated by the Commercial Court-affecting procedure. If, there fore, one conclusion more than another is to be drawn from any review of English law in the past it is the importance of regarding it not as a subject separate and apart, fit for the study of a special class of students and for the labours of practitioners, but as one inseparably connected with and affected by the movements of politics. and society from its very commencement. Again, in a survey of this kind, we cannot fail to be constantly reminded of the passion for legality which has always characterised the English people, and which it is suggested was not a little due to the existence of a central legal university-the Inns of Court-at which men from all parts of England and of all degrees of society were students, and from which a knowledge of, and respect for, law were disseminated into the remotest corners of the kingdom. We see this characteristic-the desire for legality in the Laws of the Forest, and in the forestal judicial system rude as it was. Doubtless, many wrongs remained unredressed, but in the forestal areas an elaborate system of justice was found in medieval times, which at any rate mitigated the power of the strong arm and carried a sense of law into the wildest parts of the land. We see it also on the sea, where the personal authority of the Lord High Admiral grew into a judicial tribunal for the settlement not only of maritime disputes but of thoseas to the validity of the capture of a prize in time of war. This last is, perhaps, as remarkable an instance as can be found, because in no other European country was the question of the right to a prize regarded from the same legal point of view. English law is often stated to be chaotic and wanting in precision, but if we cast our glance over the spaces of time which extend from the beginning of the thirteenth century to our own day, and note the working of the English legal system and the action of English jurisprudence, we may very well be satisfied with one and the other. For, making the necessary allowance for individual and national imperfections, for the difficulties which surround the ascertainment of legal obligations, rights, and remedies, in times less civilised than our own, it is certain that English law and procedure have always been serviceable and useful, in a word, popular. For they have answered to national requirements, and they have remained abreast of national demands-as in regard to the Law of Evidence and, after all, more could not and ought not to be expected. ADMIRALTY, COURT OF, enlargement of jurisdiction of, during Commonwealth, 78, 79, AFFORESTATION, instance of arbitrary, 34, 35. AGISTER, collected money in the royal forests, 62. ANGLO-SAXON LAW AND PROCEDURE, 3, 4. BANKRUPTCY, history of law of, 169. origin of, 170. first Bankruptcy Act, 170. legislation in reign of Elizabeth, 172. commencement of modern epoch in regard to legislation, 175. |