1881.] on the King i)i his relation to Early Civil Justice. 543 



popular courts liavo practically perished. On the other hand, the 

 law itself has been loss chanpjcd than in France or Germany. It is 

 still a modernised version of Teutonic usage. 



In France, these characteristics are reversed, mainly owing to the 

 authority obtained by the Roman law. The civil code is little more 

 than a version of Roman jurisprudence. But the same cause which 

 changed the law preserved the form of the judicial system, and hence 

 superficially the French judicial system has much of the form of the 

 old popular judicature. You find very little judicial centralisation, 

 a large number of local courts, a multitude of judges. 



The residuary authority of the king produced in England the 

 Court of Chancery, which became a recognised portitm of our system. 

 It also produced the Star Chamber, whose jurisdiction became a 

 proverb of oppression. The Star Chamber marks the exhaustion of 

 what was once the most valuable of all sources of justice. The 

 reforming authority of the king has descended to legislatures, now 

 almost everywhere the children of the British Parliament. 



[H. S. M.] 



2 r 2 



