LORD KEEPER. CCVii 



In ancient Rome, the magistrates were wholly paid by the 

 public ; but Justinian allowed some magistrates of an in 

 ferior description to receive presents, which he limited to 

 a certain amount, from the suitors before them. 



&quot; Montesquieu (b) observes, that in the early ages of 

 the feudal law, when legal proceedings were short and 

 simple, the lord defrayed the whole expense of the admi 

 nistration of justice in his court. In proportion as society 

 became refined, a more complex administration of justice 

 became necessary; and it was considered that not only 

 the party who was cast, should, on account of his having 

 instituted a bad cause, but that the successful party 

 should, on account of the benefit which he had derived 

 from the proceedings of the court, contribute, in some 

 degree, to the expenses attending them; and that the 

 public, on account of the general benefit which it derived 

 from the administration of justice, should make up the 

 deficiency/ 



&quot;To secure to the judges the proportion which the 

 suitors were to contribute towards the expense of justice, 

 it was provided, by an ordonnance of St. Louis, that at 

 the commencement of a suit, each party should deposit 

 in court the amount of one tenth part of the property 

 in dispute: that the tenth deposited by the unsuccessful 

 party should be paid over to the judges on their pass 

 ing sentence ; and that the tenth of the successful party 

 should then be returned to him. This was varied by 

 subsequent ordonnances. Insensibly it became a custom 

 for the successful party to wait on the judges, after sen 

 tence was passed, and, as an acknowledgment of their 

 attention to the cause, to present them with a box of 

 sweetmeats, which was then called epices, or spices. By 



(6) Esprit cles Loix, L. xxviii. ch. 35. 



