VII, ESSAY on the ORIGIN and STRUCTURE of the EURO- 

 PEAN LEGISLATURES. By ALLAN MJCONGCHIE, 

 Efq; Advocate y F. R. S. ED IN. and Profejbr of Public Law 

 in the Univerftty of EDINBURGH. 



PART II. 



S E C T I O N I. Of the Legiflature of the German Nations during the 

 firjl Ages after their Eflablijhment in the Roman Provinces *. 



[Read by the Author, July 19. 1784.] 



T T is reafonable to fuppofe, that the founders of the European 

 * flates would, at leaft for foine time after their conquefts, re- 

 tain much of their former political arrangements. The idea, 

 therefore, which I have formed of their legiflatures in their 

 new fituation may, in a great meafure, be anticipated from the 

 obfervations contained in the preceding part of this paper. At 

 the fame time, the change from the wilds of Germany to the 

 cultivated provinces of the empire was very great : And it is 

 neceflary to furvey, in general, the afpecl which, on this event, 

 the German governments might be expected to exhibit, in order, 

 either to form an accurate conception of the general hypothefis 

 I have adopted, or to perceive the propriety and application 

 of thofe difcuflions which are intended for its fupport. 



AT the clofe of an expedition of a German confederacy 

 which had been crowned with conqueft, I apprehend that their 

 general, or common leader, would not lay down his authority as 

 in ordinary cafes, where victory, rather than new fettlements, 



formed 



* See PART I. at the beginning of PAPERS OF THE LITERARY CLASS in this VOLUME. 



