OF MODERN CORPORATIONS. 45 
the cities without much disturbance to the en- 
joyment of their ancient customs. The progress 
of amalgamation between the new settlers and 
the old possessors, out of which arose the blend- 
ed population. of the cities at the commence- 
ment of their new activity and prosperity in the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries, cannot of course 
be distinctly traced; but admitting that the 
Roman law had ceased before this time to be 
administered, as their personal law, to any body 
of people in the barbarian kingdoms, it must 
still be regarded as highly probable, that the 
Roman institutions would be preserved, if not 
with all the fullness and detail of the imperial 
times, yet in their most important and character- 
istic ;circumstances. The growth of feudalism 
between the ninth and the eleventh centuries, 
tended more and more to obliterate the remains 
of the Roman law; but this growth was not 
equally rapid in all parts of Europe, nor even 
of the same country: in the north of France it 
completely predominated, and the Roman insti- 
tutions disappeared. Accordingly the commu- 
nities which were so generally established there 
from the time of Louis le Gros appear as inno- 
vations. In the south of France on the contrary 
the Roman population appears, both from the 
form of the new language, and from the preser- 
