The Evolution of Law. 127 



greatest of obstacles, perhaps the greatest, in its progress, 

 had no place in the Roman. At Rome, Law and Equity 

 were administered by the same Court in England, they 

 were divided between two, which differed in constitution, 

 jurisdiction, procedure, principles and, in early times, 

 in spirit and ideals, so that for a long time they were 

 in open and bitter conflict. In each of our original 

 States, with the sole exception of Louisiana I believe, Law 

 and Equity were administered in separate Courts. In 

 1848 the two jurisdictions in the State of Xew York were 

 merged into one, by Act of Legislature. The majority of 

 the States have followed her example, and at last, even in 

 old England, the home of precedent, the Law and Equity 

 Courts were consolidated in 1873. 



In the law-courts of England, questions of faoi; were 

 always decided by a jury taken from the people ; in Rome 

 they were referred to an oflicer selected from a body of 

 professional experts. In English practice, no decision was 

 made upon a hypothetical case for the sake of determining 

 a principle of law. An issue of fact or law could be 

 joined only when a suit was brought for actual damage or 

 relief. A great deal of Roman law consisted of the opin- 

 ions of jurists upon hypothetical cases, which were made 

 authoritative by the edict of the praetor. Law grew much 

 more rapidly, and it was much easier to modify it, in Rome, 

 because the judges were less conservative and had less re- 

 gard for precedent. At Rome, law was studied philosphi- 

 cally, as a science ; in England, as a profession, empirically. 

 Although, in literature and art, Rome was of second rate, 

 pupil and imitator, in law she was original and cre- 

 ative ; without peer then, and without superior now. In one 

 direction she made greater progress than any modern 

 State the philosophical study of law. Professional 

 jurists are rare in this country and in England, and are not 

 common on the Continent. They abounded in Rome, and 

 Maine says that they were the means of producing results 

 which the English practitioner lacks centuries of attaining. 

 He adds that "the great importance of the Roman law is 

 that in our law we approach nearer and nearer to its con- 

 clusions." 



The law of any period is the resultant of countless 

 forces, climatic, social, religious and moral, concurring 

 through long periods of time and over wide areas of influ- 



