570 



MORAVIANS. 



to Russia for grain supplied in 1879. besides 

 1,000,000 florins borrowed in Vienna at 6J per 

 cent, in 1881. 



The Civil lode. The Montenegrins, like the 

 rest of the Balkan Slavs, have heretofore con- 

 tented themselves with laws adopted from 

 European jurisprudence that often conflict with 

 their traditional customary 'law. Balthazar 

 Bogishich, a scholar and jurist, who is widely 

 known in Slavic countries, was commissioned 

 by Prince Nicholas to elaborate a body of laws 

 in which the peculiar institutions and customs 

 of the land should be confirmed as they could 

 be brought into harmony with modern juris- 

 prudence. The civil code was promulgated by 

 the Prince with great ceremony on May 8, 

 1888, and went into force on July 1. It is the 

 first attempt to formulate in scientific terms 

 the customs and conceptions of justice exist- 

 ing among the South Slavs. The collective 

 family, with the principle of the solidarity of all 

 the family members, is preserved from extinc- 

 tion ; though in certain cases the responsibil- 

 ity of individuals is affirmed. Since many 

 Montenegrins now seek their fortunes abroad, 

 it was found necessary to modify the old law 

 by relieving families of responsibility for the 

 debts and taxes of absent members, which in 

 the past has brought financial ruin on many 

 families. Several paragraphs are devoted to 

 international private laws, regulating and lim- 

 iting the operation of the laws of other states 

 within the principality. In order to preserve 

 the land of the people from falling into the 

 hands of usurers, restrictions are placed on the 

 acquisition of real estate. Land can be alien- 

 ated, but the new owner only acquires the 

 right to the commons in wood, water, and 

 pasture, belonging to the property, in case he 

 cultivates it himself, a restriction which is 

 expected to prevent the acquisition of large 

 estates. Foreigners are not permitted to own 

 real estate, except by gift of the Prince. The 

 law of contracts is worked out with careful 

 application of legal theories to the conditions 

 of the people. Definitions and elucidations 

 are given at the end of the code. Prof. Bogis- 

 hich has published in Paris a brochure ex- 

 plaining his method of codification, and is 

 writing a work on the principles of the system 

 of laws that he has collected. 



MORAVIANS. The following are the general 

 statistics of the Church of the United Brethren, 

 commonly known as the Moravian Church: 



"Whole number of teachers in Sunday-schools, 

 2,748; of pupils in the same, 26,687; number 

 of boarding-schools, 41, with 1,842 pupils; of 

 day-schools, 253, with 21,477 pupils. The Mo- 

 ravian Church throughout the world is under 

 a single organization, which is called the 

 Unity's Elders' Conference, and forms also the 

 Provincial Elders' Conference for Germany. 

 The other provincial synods are responsible to 

 it, and are dependent upon it for the ratifica- 

 tion of their principal acts. Its residence and 

 offices are at Herrnhut, Saxony. 



The American Province comprises a north- 

 ern and a southern division, each of which has 

 its separate synod, and the northern division 

 is divided into five districts, each including a 

 convenient number of congregations geograph- 

 ically related to one another. In the ecclesi- 

 astical nomenclature, the congregations com- 

 prise, generally speaking, the older settlements, 

 to which are added from time to time the new 

 flocks resulting from home missionary labors. 

 This happens whenever a home mission is able 

 to satisfy the conditions required for the sup- 

 port of a regular ministry ; and then, and not 

 till then, it is entitled to representation in the 

 Provincial Synod. The four schools of the 

 American Province, at Bethlehem, Litiz, and 

 Nazareth, Pa., and Salem, N. C., date from 

 toward the close of the last or the beginning of 

 the present century, and return, in all, 50 teach- 

 ers and 500 boarding pupils. The Moravian 

 College and Theological Seminary, at Bethle- 

 hem, Pa., includes three classes, provides a six 

 years' course of study, and returns about 40 

 students. The Theological Seminary has an 

 endowment fund of about $75,000. The annu- 

 al expenses of sustentation (of retired minis- 

 ters and the widows of ministers) in the North- 

 ern Province average about $9,000. The " Mal- 

 in Library " at Bethlehem, Pa., possesses the 

 most valuable collection of Moravian literature 

 that exists. The synod of the northern division 

 of the American Province met in Bethlehem. 

 Pa., September 19; Bishop A. A. Reinke was 

 chosen president. The most important busi- 

 ness was the designation of three bishops; six 

 candidates were nominated. Their names were 

 submitted by ocean telegraph to the Unity's 

 Elders' Conference in Ilerrnhut, Saxony, with 

 the request that in making the selection. the 

 " apostolic lot" be used. Brethren H. T. 

 Bachman, J. M. Levering, and A. A. Reinke 

 were thus chosen, and were duly consecrated 

 during the session of the synod. Resolutions 

 were adopted welcoming any effort put forth 

 in good faith to secure closer fellowship and 

 communion between the churches; and a com- 

 mittee was appointed to confer with commit- 

 tees of other bodies on this subject. 



The peculiar European home mission called 

 the Diaspora has been carried on under the 

 direction of the German Provincial Elders' 

 Conference since 1729. It seeks not to make 

 proselytes, or to draw members from other 

 Protestant communities, but to excite and fos- 



