ATROPHY OF INSTITUTIONS FROM LACK OF USE 287 



formerly held full powers of jurisdiction with 

 regard to matters relating to members of the 

 peerage ; this jurisdiction is now limited to cases 

 of high treason or crimes committed by peers to 

 the exclusion of mere acts of misdemeanour which 

 are tried before the ordinary Courts. 



2. Atrophy from lack of resources. 



The instances we have mentioned are those of 

 institutions decaying because they had become 

 useless, and their resources were transferred to 

 other objects. The lack of resources was the result 

 of the lack of function. Sometimes, however, it is 

 the cause and not the result, in which case atrophy 

 may be due either to an abnormal development, 

 such as the hypertrophy of another institution, or to 

 poverty, ensuing on the general decline of society 

 in general. Of course both factors may act 

 simultaneously. 



1. Local administration at the close of the Roman 

 Empire. The decline of local government at the 

 close of the Eoman Empire is an instance of 

 atrophy ensuing from the ultra-development of 

 another institution. 



As the demands of the central powers grew 

 more and more excessive, the fiscal rates had to be 

 augmented in order to meet them, and the curiales, 

 which consisted of members of the City Council 

 who were made responsible for the payment of 



