THE PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY 351 



that of economic landholding conditions, by Seebohm and others; 

 that of commercial conditions, by Ashley, Cunningham, Gross, and 

 others. For private law, too, the work of Palgrave, Bigelow, Young, 

 and a few others had revealed to us that the older lines of Coke, 

 Blackstone, Spence, Reeves, Finlayson, and Crabbe would have to 

 be entirely discarded for the earlier part of the law. But Mr. Justice 

 Holmes 's stimulating book on the Common Law now arrived and 

 pointed out in detail the field of necessary research for later times; 

 in fact, it was probably this book which really created whatever now 

 exists at large in the older generation at the bar of taste and appre- 

 ciation for the study of the history of our law. Sir James Stephen's 

 work, shortly ensuing, most philosophical, comprehensive, and 

 entertaining, was destined to stand future testing at probably all 

 important points. When to these were added the publications of 

 Ames, Pollock and Maitland, there were then achieved, for the first 

 time, certain final results on a large scale; and it became possible 

 to study continuously the history of the main doctrines of sub- 

 stantive law and procedure from the beginning to present times. 

 The researches of Thayer, Liebermann, Jenks, Salmond, Scrutton, 

 and other recent workers in special fields and the later publications 

 of the Selden Society and its editors, and of other English societies, 

 merely increase the emphasis of the period's importance. 



What has been gained, then, in the last fifteen years, by way of 

 tangible results? And what remains to be especially worked upon? 

 Here it is convenient to map out the subject in three regions; (A) the 

 external history of English law, (B) the internal history, and (C) its 

 transatlantic or American history; and it will be found that in these 

 three regions the acquisitions of knowledge have been^ in that order, 

 much, less, and least, respectively. 



(A) What may be called the external history includes the relation 

 and influence of (1) Germanic law, (2) Roman law, (3) Canon law, 

 and (4) Continental mercantile and maritime law. 



(1) The Germanic law influenced the English law through two 

 channels, just as the Missouri and the Mississippi unite to form one 

 stream which thereafter takes the latter name. The Germanic law 

 of the Continent was directly transferred by the Saxons, Jutes, and 

 other immigrants of 400-800 A. D.; with this, in 1000-1200 A. D. 

 united the law of the Norman invaders. The precise content of both 

 of these elements, together with the resulting fusion, and the share of 

 the contribution of each, may be said to be now for the most part 

 known and described. For Germanic law in the large sense, the 

 work of Brunner, Heusler, v. Amira, Gierke, Bethmann-Hollweg, 

 Stobbe, Schroeder, and some writers in special fields, has made clear 

 all that we need; except that Brunner's history has not gone beyond 



