CONFORMABLE STRATA 



COM I < K s 



411 



countries than one; many possessed two ^ 

 alities by birth, and muro than two if nationality 

 could le arijuired by residence and interest in 

 a foreign stutf. In such circumstances it often 

 became an object of tin- utmost importance to indi- 

 viiluals to ascertain, and of the greatest difficulty 

 to lawyers to determine, whether the laws of one 

 state or of another were to govern questions of 

 sale, succession, status, ami the like. As no state 

 could vindicate its jurisdiction beyond its own 

 boundaries without being guilty of an act of 

 a^iession, it became absolutely indis|>ensable that 

 i in general rules should l>e fixed upon in order 

 to prevent the danger of national hostilities on 

 I rilling occasions. The elalioration of these rules 

 I instituted a new branch of jurisprudence, to which 

 the title of Private International Law has teen 

 given. Many of the classical treatises on the 

 subject e.g. Huber and Story are entitled the 

 Conflict of Laws. Other writers, such as Savigny, 

 Bar, and Foelix, use the term ' Private Inter- 

 national Law.' From the partially independent 

 character which belongs to the different states 

 which constitute the American Union, the labours 

 of the continental jurists in international juris- 

 prudence have been carefully adapted to the re- 

 quirements of that country ; and it is consequently 

 to America and to continental Europe, rather 

 than to British writers, that we must look for 

 systematic works on this subject. See INTER- 

 NATIONAL LAW. 



Conformable Strata are beds which lie 

 parallel to each other, the accumulation of the 

 upper strata having followed the deposition of the 

 underlying beds without any break or prolonged 

 interruption. Conformity thus points to a con- 

 tinuity of the same physical conditions. 



Confraternities. See BROTHERHOODS and 

 GUILDS. 



Confront^* in Heraldry, is a term applied to 

 two animals facing or fronting one another. 



Confucius* the name by which the great 

 Chinese sage is known, is a Latinised form of the 



Chinese K'ung Fti-tsze (3\j -Jr ""?") or '* ue 

 Master K'ung,' K'ung being his clan or family 

 name, and Fu-tsze the denomination applied 

 to him by his disciples after he had become a 

 teacher, and gathered around him a school of 

 ardent and inquiring spirits, to whom he communi- 

 cated his views on the ancient literature and history 

 of their country, and on the principles of human 

 duty. As a child, he received the postnomen Ch'iti, 

 and when grown up he was called Chung-ni, mark- 

 ing his place in the household. His birth took 

 place, according to the most authoritative account, 

 in 551 B.C., in the village of Ch'iieh, in the state 

 of Lu, a part of the present province of Shan- 

 tung. 



The K'ung family had migrated to Lu from 

 the dukedom of Sung, and were a branch of 

 the ruling house of Sung. The lineage of Con- 

 fucius is thus traced through the dukes of Sung 

 to the kings of the Shang or Yin dynastv, and 

 through them again, up among the mists of 

 antiquity, to the sovereign Hwang Ti, whose reign 

 is said to have commenced in 2697 B.C. His 

 father, known to us by the name of Shu Liang-lieh, 

 was commandant of Tsau, and a soldier distin- 

 guished for his strength and daring. In his old 

 age he contracted a second marriage with a young 

 lady of the Yen family, and of her was born the 

 sage in 551. 



Liang-heh died in the child's third year, leaving 

 his mother and him in straitened circumstances. 

 He has described his own mental growth till he 

 was seventy, when he 'could do whatever his 



heart prompted, without tranHgreHtnng what wat 

 right,' and tells IIM that 'at liftei-n hi* mind was 

 set on learning, and at thirty he stood linn in hi* 

 convictions.' 



At nineteen he married, going for his wife to the 

 Chien-kwan family in his ancestral state of Sung, 

 ami in the year after, his son Li was born. Be- 

 sides this son Lt, Confucius had two daughters. 



Confucius. 



( Reduced fac-simile of a rubbing from a marble slab behind hi* 

 temple at Kio-foo-hien). 



About the time of his marriage we find him in 

 humble offices, in charge of the public stores of 

 grain, and of the public herds, performing efficiently 

 his functions, and allowing nothing oeyond or 

 higher than them to occupy his attention. In 531 

 B.C., when he was in his twenty-second year, he 

 commenced in Ch'iieh-li his career as a teacher. 

 He continued in his native state till 517 B.C., 

 with the exception of a short visit to the capital 

 at Loh, where he is said to have met with Lao- 

 tsze (q.v.). In 517 Lu fell into great disorder. 

 The Duke Chao being worsted in the struggle, 

 fled to the neighbouring state of Ch'!, and thither 

 Confucius also for a time repaired. 



Returning to Lfl, he remained there for sixteen 

 more years without being called to any official 

 employment. Duke Chao died in exile in 510 B.c. ; 

 and his younger brother and successor, Duke Ting, 

 in 501 B.C. appointed Confucius governor of the 

 town of Chung-tft, where a marvellous reformation 

 in the manners of the people speedily took place. 

 The next year saw him first minister of works for 

 the state, and next minister of crime. Tie govern- 

 ment was now conducted for three years according 

 to his counsel. 'He strengthened,' we are told, 

 ' the ruling house, and weakened the ministers and 

 chiefs. A transforming government went abroad. 

 Dishonesty and dissoluteness were ashamed, and 

 hid their heads. Loyalty and good faith became the 

 characteristics of the men, and chastity and docility 

 those of the women. Strangers flocked to Lu from 

 other states.' Confucius was the idol of the people. 



But this success did not last long. The prosperi t y 

 of the state awakened the jealousy and fears of its 

 neighbours. The marquis of Ch'i cunningly sent to 

 Duke Ting a present of beautiful courtesans and 

 fine horses, ana a breach was made between Con- 

 fucius and his ruler. His counsels were no longer 

 sought. He determined to leave Lu and visit other 

 states. Accordingly in 497 B.C., when he was now 



