120 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



are discovered, and the course of progress is wayward"and various. 

 In the earlier part of this course, judicial functions are to a greater 

 or less extent assumed by the executive, and for a long time this 

 division of the functions of the court between the two departments 

 of government continues — being claimed, now by one, now by the 

 other. At times, too, in the course of progress, legislative func- 

 tions are assumed by the executive department, and a conflict is 

 waged for supremacy. At last, by various processes, the court is 

 organized. 



Three of these processes must here be mentioned. As states 

 increase in size the business of adjudication becomes so great that 

 proper attention cannot be given to the multiplicity of cases 

 arising. Under these circumstances committees of the assembly 

 are appointed with judicial powers, at first extremely limited but 

 gradually enlarged, until courts are developed. On the other hand, 

 where judicial power has to a greater or less extent been assumed 

 by the executive department, the rulers find themselves overwhelmed 

 with business and appoint subordinates in the first instance to ad- 

 judicate specific cases, but gradually the powers of these subordi- 

 nates are enlarged, until courts are thus established. 



Again, ecclesiastical bodies claiming superior virtue and wisdom 

 sometimes assume to adjudicate, but such adjudication is gradually 

 relegated to specified officers of the body, and thus ecclesiastical 

 courts are developed. 



The courts originating from the assembly, from the ruler, and 

 from the ecclesiastical body alike, may be more or less multifarious. 

 When they spring up in the same state their jurisdiction is at first 

 imperfectly defined. Each strives for supremacy, and thus jurisdic- 

 tion overlaps jurisdiction. This conflict ultimately results in the 

 organization of a system of courts integrated in a superior court 

 and differentiated by the establishment of a variety of inferior 

 courts with jurisdiction more carefully defined, the function of the 

 inferior courts being controlled and restricted within proper bounds 

 by appeal to the superior. 



