(33) 
ON THE 
PROBABLE ORIGIN 
OF 
MODERN CORPORATIONS 
FROM THE 
MUNICIPIA OF THE ROMANS, 
r AND THEIR 
SUBSEQUENT INTERNAL CHANGES. 
— —__—_ 
By THE REv. JOHN KENRICK, M.A. 
(Read, October 16th., 1835.) 
THE condition of Europe in the middle ages is 
a subject which is far from being exhausted, 
notwithstanding the learning that has been em- 
ployed in searching into its antiquities. Every- 
thing connected with the tenure of land has 
indeed been collected and commented upon by 
our antiquaries and lawyers, because this tenure 
was the foundation of aristocracy through all 
its gradations; but the institutions by which 
the people were raised from personal or political 
slavery, so as to influence the administration of 
government in nearly all the countries of Eu- 
C 
