OF MODERN CORPORATIONS. 35 
information was to be expected from the chron- 
icles of those times, respecting the silent growth 
of institutions which had not yet begun to exert 
any visible influence. 
The striking resemblance between the muni- 
cipal corporations of the Romans in the later 
ages of the empire, and those of the cities which 
in the the twelfth century emancipated them- 
selves from the feudal yoke, could not but excite 
a suspicion that the one were derived from the 
other. This suspicion, however, was almost 
immediately repelled’ by the conviction which 
long prevailed, that almost every trace of Roman 
laws and manners had been obliterated by,the 
invasion of the barbarians. More accurate re- 
search has shewn the fallacy of this opinion: a 
close resemblance to the feudal tenure of land 
has been perceived in the tenure of the Letic 
lands under the emperors; Savigny* has des- 
cribed the condition of the Coloni in such a way, 
as to show that the state of villenage preceded 
the irruption of the barbarians. No one now be- 
lieves that the discovery of a copy of the_Pan- 
dects at Amelfi in 1137, was the first thing 
which made the nations of the west acquainted 
with the labours of the imperial lawgiver. Even 
* Philolog. Museum, v. 2, p. 116, seq. 
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