1

Submitted as a dissertation for a Fellowship at Trinity and privately printed in 1875.

1

Mackenzie’s Works , vol. II. p. 472.

1

The Power of Kings , etc.

2

Observations on Aristotle’s Politics , etc.

1

A brief View . . . the Leviathan , p. 319.

2

pp. 72, 122.

3

Vol. II. p. 451.

1

Works (ed. Molesworth), III. 119.

1

Evidences ,etc. (ed. 1728), p. 178.

2

Eccl. Pol . I. x.

1

Arist. Pol . v. i.

1

Defence . . . against Salmasius .

2

Observations , etc.

1

A Ready and Easy Way , etc.

2

Discourses , ch. II. § i.

1

Discourses , ch. I. § ii.

2

Essays on Government , II. 22.

1

Discourses , II. xxxii.

2

Gov . II. 101.

3

II. 76.

4

II. 112.

5

II. 117.

1

Harrington’s Works (ed. Toland), p. 44.

2

p. 56.

1

Harrington’s Works (ed. Toland), pp. 40 et seq .

2

Hume’s Essays , 1. vii.

3

Hume’s Essays , II. xvi.

1

Soph. Antig . vv. 445 et seq .

1

Discourses , etc., III. xi.

1

Hobbes’ English Works (ed. Molesworth), vol. III. 140, 141.

1

Hist. Lit ., vol. II., p. 538.

2

Hobbes’ English Works , vol. II. 7.

1

Hobbes’ English Works , vol. III. 119. (This, I think, is introduced for the first time in the Leviathan , the parallel passages being II. 17, and IV. 88.)

2

III. 120.

1

Hobbes’ English Works , vol. II. 25, 26.

2

VI. 227.

3

II. 306, 307, III. 590, IV. 179.

4

II. 314–316, III. 600–602, IV. 186–188.

1

Hobbes’ English Works , vol. II. 5.

1

Treatise , etc., III. ii. 2.

1

English Works II. 91, 92.

2

ibid . II. 107.

3

ibid . III. 208.

1

English Works III. 703.

1

On Govt . II. 4.

2

Hum. Under . II. xx. 2.

3

II. xxi. 42.

4

II. xxviii. 5.

5

II. xxviii. 8–11.

1

On Govt . II. 6.

2

Hum. Under . IV. x.

3

IV. iii. 18.

4

On Govt . II. 4, 6, 12.

1

First Letter on Toleration .

2

On Govt . II. 6.

3

II. 8.

1

On Govt . II. 7–12.

2

II. 17–12.

3

II.22

1

On Govt . II. 95, 96.

1

On Govt . II. 116–119.

2

II. 117.

3

II. 120.

4

II. 121.

1

On Govt . II. 132.

1

Hutcheson’s Introduction to Mor. Phil . III. 5.

2

On Govt . II. 124.

1

On Govt . II. 123–131.

2

II. 140.

3

II. 134–141.

4

II. 240.

1

On Govt . II. 229.

2

First Letter on Toleration .

3

Op. Cit . III. 322.

1

Reflections on the Revolution , etc.

2

Civ. Govt . II. 116.

3

Du Contrat Social , I. iv.

1

Cont. Soc . V. ii.

2

ibid . note.

3

Civ. Govt . II. 198.

4

Cont. Sec . IV. 16.

1

Op. Cit . III. 161.

2

Op. Cit . II. 91.

1

Civ. Govt . II. 138.

2

II. 140.

3

Cont. Soc . V. ii.

1

Freedom of Wit and Humour , Pt. 3, Sec. I.

1

Letter to a Student , VII.

1

Burke, Vindication of Natural Society .

2

Political Justice , B. I.

1

Saint-Hilaire, Politique d’ Aristote , p. xi.

1

Evidences , p. 223.

2

Essays , II. xii.

1

E.g ., James Mill, Fragment on Mackintosh (ed. 1870), p. 264. J. S. Mill, Dissert. and Discuss . (2nd ed.), vol. II. p. 455.

2

Introduction to Moral Philosophy .

1

Treatise , etc., III. ii.

2

Essays , II. xii.

3

Mor. and Pol. Phil ., VI. iii.

4

Fragment on Govt ., I. xxxvi, and note .

5

Essays , I. iii.

1

Hist. Lit ., vol. III. ch. iii.

2

Hobbes describes his own method, Op. Cit ., III. xi.–xii.

3

Utilitarian Theory of Government .

1

Hist. Engl .

2

Vindiciæ Gallicæ .

1

Reflections , etc.

2

Essays , II. xii.

1

Rights of Man .

2

Vindication , etc.

3

Letter to a Noble Lord .

4

Ibid .

1

Reflections , etc.

1

Bentham’s Works , II. 491.

1

Vindicia Gallicæ .

1

Rechtslehre .

2

Entwurf sum ewigen Frieden .

1

The Friend , Essay III.

2

Essay II.

1

Elements , § 849.

2

§ 828.

1

Abrogation of King James by the People of England , etc.

1

Appeal from the New Whigs , etc.

2

Pol . VI. ii.

1

Entwurf x. ewigen Frieden .

1

Burke.

1

The appointment of certain persons as magistrates is a privilegium .

1

Civ. Gov ., 132—141.

2

Op. Cit . There seems to me no absurdity in speaking of one form of government as more absolute than another, though Hobbes, Austin, and other analytical jurists think there is. That form of government is least absolute under which it may be expected that constitutional opinion, “opinion of right” (as Hume calls it), will allow to those who are ordinarily called the rulers the fewest powers.

1

Letter Concerning Toleration . [Locke’s Works, 1751, vol. II., p. 244.]

1

Letter Concerning Toleration . [Locke’s Works, 1751, vol. II., pp. 259, 261.]

2

p. 260.

1

Letter Concerning Toleration . [Locke’s Works, 1751, vol. II., p. 259.]

1

Letter Concerning Toleration . [Locke’s Works, 1751, vol. II., p. 253.]

1

Table Talk , 3rd Jan., 1834.

1

Areop .

2

Letter Concerning Toleration . [Locke’s Works, 1751, vol. II., pp. 260—261.]

1

Church and State , Advertisement.

2

Aids to Reflection , Prud. Aph. II. Comment.

3

The Friend , Essay III.

1

The State in Relation to the Church , ch. ii. § 16.

2

Church and State .

1

Hist. Engl ., ch. xxi.

1

Locke’s Works , vol. II., p. 33.

2

Wealth of Nations , Bk. II., ch. iv.

3

Mor. and Pol. Phil ., II. x.

4

Hist. Eth. Phil . (3rd ed.), p. 240.

5

Hist. Lit ., vol. IV., ch. iv.

1

Essays: Of Usury .

2

Comp. Moral Sentiments , VII. iv., with preface to 6th edition of that work.

3

Pol. Econ ., ch. v.

1

Essays , App. C.

2

Specimens of such a procedure could be extracted from several popular manuals; they go far to justify Coleridge’s opinion that Political Economy is solemn humbug. ( Table Talk , March 17th, 1833.)

3

Logic , VI. ix. 3.

1

Clarendon’s Reply to Hobbes .

2

I. xi. Conclusion.

1

Chartism .

1

Op. Cit ., p. 45.

1

Institutes , II. viii. 7.

2

Comment ., I. i.

3

Mor. and Pol. Phil ., VI. x.

4

Op. Cit ., p. 60.

5

Tenure of Kings .

1

Treatise (Dumont), p. 94.

2

Goethe. Egmont.

1

J. F. Stephen, Liberty , etc., p. 175.

1

J. F. Stephen, Liberty , ch. i.

2

Pol. Econ ., v. i. 2. There are even stronger expressions, too long to quote.

3

Ch. v.

1

Treatise , p. 95.

1

The Friend , Essay IV.

1

Social Statics , ch. xx.

1

Sidgwick, Method of Ethics , III. v.

2

Hum. Under ., IV. iii. 18.

3

Gov ., II. iv.

1

Gov ., II. 52, et seq.

2

Hum. Und ., I. iii. 9. Whewell, Hist. Mor. Phil ., Lect. v.

1

Soc. Stat ., ch. xx.

1

Bentham’s Works , vol. III. pp. 542, 543.

2

Vol. IX. p. 3, et seq.

1

J. S. Mill, Represent. Gov . (ed. 3), p. 15.

2

Essays , I. vi.

1

Op. cit . III., pp. xi.–xii.

1

Principles of Internat. Law (Works, vol. II., p. 536 et seq .).

1

Principles of Internat. Law (Works, vol. I., p. 5).

2

Essay on Westminster Reviewer’s Defence .

3

Mackintosh, Hist. Eth. Phil ., Note W.

1

J. S. Mill, Autob ., p. 158.

2

Logic , VI. x.

1

Essay on Mitford’s History .

2

De Republicâ Anglorum , p. 17.

1

Church and State .

2

Table Talk , 19 Sept., 1830.

1

Hobbes, Op. cit ., VI. 365.

2

Civ. Gov ., II. 25–51.

3

Hist. Lit ., IV. iv.

1

Institutes , I. iii. 10.

1

Soc. Cont ., II. xi.

2

Mor. Phil ., III. iv.

3

Inquiry . . . Morals , III. i.

1

Civ. Gov ., I. 106.

2

Civ. Gov ., II. 1.

1

Civ. Gov ., III. 2.

2

Works , I. 304.

3

III. 228.

4

III. 229.

5

VI. xi.

1

Agrarian Justice .

1

Works , VI. xi.

1

Quoted by Ricardo ( Pol. Ec ., ch. v.).

2

Works , I., Preface, 70. VIII. 440.

3

III. 73.

1

E.g . Cobbett, Pol. Regist ., 10 April, 1823.

2

Pol. Justice , VIII. iii.

1

Rechtslehre .

2

The Friend , Essay IV.

1

Soc. Stat ., X. and XI.

1

Church and State , p. 49.

2

p. 35

1

Essay on Coleridge .

1

Westminster Review , 1879.

1

The Seisin of the Freehold , p. I.

1

The Seisin of the Freehold , p. 202.

1

Reports from the Select Committee on Land Titles and Transfer , 10th July, 1878, and 24th June, 1879.

1

Seisin , p. 97, and Evidence before the Committee, First Report , p. 27.

2

Primogeniture as it exists in England , by Eyre Lloyd, B.A., London, 1877.

1

Das Anglonormannische Erbfolgesystem , Leipzig, 1869.

1

Principles of the Law of Real Property , by Joshua Williams, Q.C., twelfth edition, London, 1877.

1

Montesquieu, L’Esprit des Lois , liv. XVIII, ch. xxii.

1

“Es ist bekannt, dass in England unter den gemeinen Volk der Gebrauch noch heut zu tag gilt, die Frau auf dem Markt zu bringen und zu verkaufen.”—Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer , p. 451.

1

Mr Lowe, we observe, ascribes this proposal to Mr Senior. ( Second Report , Q. 2938.)

1

F. Pollock, Principles of Contract , 1st ed., pp. 282, 283.

1

Settlements , p. 159.

1

Real Property , p. 17.

1

Real Property , p. 468.

1

“Commentary on Mr Humphrey’s Real Property Code,” Westminster Review , No. XII. Reprinted in Bentham’s Works , Vol. v., p. 387. See p. 405, comment on the word “heirs.”

1

Law Magazine and Review , August, 1881.

2

Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales , 1841. I use the octavo edition, which I believe agrees in all points with the folio.

1

Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents , vol. I., p. 211.

1

Curiously enough one of the few passages in the Anglo-Saxon authorities which mentions “law-men” is a provision for the administration of justice between Englishmen and Welshmen, the “ordinance respecting the Dunsetas.”

1

I cite the three Codes as Ven., Dim., and Gwent., respectively by Book, Chapter, and Section, and the remaining tracts as Bk. IV., V., etc., here again giving Chapter and Section.

1

Bk. XIII. 2, § 66, 67. This thirteenth book seems to me the least trustworthy of all the authorities, and such I understand is the opinion of better judges.

2

Bk. V. 2, § 123, 126, 144.

3

Ine 23, 24, 32, 33, 46. (I cite the Anglo-Saxon Laws from the second edition of Schmid’s Gesetze .)

1

Æthelstan, VI. 6. Æthelred, II. 6.

2

It still, I imagine, gives its name to the Hundred of Dacorum in the County of Hertford. This means the Danes’ hundred, for our ancestors thought it classical to call the Danes, Daci . This hundred perhaps got its name as being the only district south-west of the Watling Street, which was under the Danes’ law. That law we are told extended to the Watling Street and eight miles further . This would nearly include the hundred in question. ( Leges Edwards Confessoris . 30 (27).)

1

Bk. V. 2, § 144.

2

Bk. XIII. 2, § 66, 67.

3

Bk. X. 2.

1

E.g ., Ven. II. 6, § 28.

2

The Bishop and Chapter of St Asaph, stating their grievances against Llywelyn ( a.d . 1276), say, “Mulieribus et si alii heredes deficiant, jus successionis hereditarie immo denegat. Set hoc consuetudo patrie est.” This admission seems conclusive. See also the Statute of Rhuddlan, and Ven. II. 15, § I.

3

Ven. II. 15, § 1–4. The same rules with slight variations occur in many other passages.

1

Legg. Hen. Primi 70, § 12, and Schmid, Anhang VI. § 7.

2

“A woman of bush and brake,” Gwent. II. 39, § 40.

3

Ven. II. 31, § 7, 8.

4

ibid ., § 4.

1

Bk. V. I, § 7. Bk. V. 2, § 82.

2

Ven. II. 31. Dim. II. 8, § 30. Gwent. II. 39, § 40. Bk. X. 7, § 4. Bk. XIII. 2, § 120.

1

Gwent. II. 40, § 10.

2

Gwent. II. 5, § 11. Dim. II. 17, § 23.

3

Bk. XIII. 2, § 88.

4

The same word galnes or galnys occurs in the old Scotch Regiam Majestatem . ( Acts of Parliament of Scotland , pp. 273, 276, 300.) Seemingly it means murder, slaughter .

5

Ven. III. I, § 27.

1

Ven. III. I, § 31.

2

Dim. II. 17, § 21, 27. Gwent. II. 5, § 9, 15.

3

Gwent. II. 39, § 14.

1

Ven. II. 19, § 1, 2.

2

Dim. II. 8, § 8.

3

Dim. II. 8, § 20.

4

Bk. XIII. 2, § 62.

5

ibid ., § 165.

1

Bk. XIII. 2, § 163.

2

ibid ., § 88.

3

ibid ., § 131.

4

ibid ., § 133.

5

ibid ., § 88, 162.

6

Gwent. II. 39, § 38, 55. Dim. II. 8, § 8.

1

As to what constituted Morth , see Schmid, Gesetze , Glossar.

2

“No one is to be killed on account of another but a murderer . . . For if the kindred disown the murderer, there is no claim upon them.” Ven. III. I, note, § 19. Compare Laws of Edmund.

1

Printed by Wotton in an Appendix to Leges Wallicæ .

2

The passage is curious:—“Ithel ab Philippi juratus dicit idem in omnibus cum Kenewrek prejurato, adjiciens quod Princeps potest pro voluntate sua leges corrigere et in melius reformare, exemplificando de David ab Lewel. avo Principis nunc, qui delevit per se et consilium suum le Glanas per totam Northwalliam. Videbatur sibi et consilio suo quod culpa suos debeat tenere auctores delinquentes, et non alios, qui nichil deliquerint, quod aliter fieri consuebat colligendo Glanas, etc.” ( Wotton , p. 524). Apparently Edward’s commissioners did not understand this, for some one has written in the margin of the Roll, “Inquirendum quid sit Lex Glanas. Examinandum de emend. Legis.” We, however, have no difficulty in catching the drift of the remark. According to Ithel, David freed the kin from the feud because he thought it unjust that the innocent should suffer for the guilty, “quod fieri consuebat.”

1

Ven. III. I, § 16.

2

Legg. Henr. Prim. 75, § 8, 9, 10. Supported by Alfred, 27.

1

Bk. X. 7, § 27.

2

Saraad seemingly means disgrace. I borrow the phrase “honour price” from the translation of the Irish laws.

3

Bk. IV. I, § 2, 4.

1

Bk. VI. I, § 17.

2

Dim. II. I, § 14, 16. (In the last of these passages saraad in the English version seems a mistake for galanas .)

3

Ven. III. I, § 19.

4

ibid ., note, § 22.

5

Gwent. II. 8, § 10. Ven. III. I, § 19.

1

Schmid, Anhang VII. (In the Record edition this is printed at the end of the laws of Edward and Guthrum.)

2

Schmid, Glossar. Heals-fang . Grimm, Deutsche Rechts Alterthumer , pp. 468—470.

1

The passages most in point are, Ven. III. I, and the version in the notes to that chapter, Dim. II. I, Gwent. II. 8, Bk. IV. 3, Bk. X. 3. The account in the text is compiled from these, and is not exactly borne out by any one of them. The discrepancies, however, seem due rather to imperfections of statement than to any difference of principle.

1

Schmid, Glossar., Cneôw .

2

But there are many difficulties about the Welsh reckoning which I cannot pretend to have solved. Vent. II. I, § 12. Dim. II. I, § 17–29. Gwent. II. 8, § 1–7. Bk. IV. 3. It is, however, much more intelligible than the Irish.

3

Ven. III. I, § 21—23. Ven. II. I, § 64.

1

Ven. II. I, § 64. Dim. II. I, § 16.

2

Ven. III. I, § 13.

3

Lex Sal .—De composit. homicid. (Hessel’s and Kern’s ed., 388–396).

1

W. E. Wilda, Strafrecht der Germanen , p. 372 f. It seems to me that many, if not most of the writer’s conclusions concerning the early stages in the development of criminal law, though derived entirely from Teutonic sources, hold good also as to Welsh law. It is much to be regretted that of early Scotch law we have but the merest fragments, and at present it is hardly safe for any but an Irish scholar to speak of Irish law.

2

Wilda, p. 379.

3

Gwent. II. 37, § 2.

1

Gwent. II. 39, § 54.

2

Dim. II. 8, § 21. Gwent. II. 39, § I. Bk. IX. 30, § I.

1

Bk. XII. II.

1

Asach . An oath, a troth. Pughe’s Welsh Dictionary .

1

Law Magazine and Review , 1881–2.

2

Const. Hist ., § 41.

3

Athelstan, II. 2.

4

Edgar, III. 6; IV. 3.

1

Canute, II. 20.

1

Canute, II. 12–15.

1

I. 56 b. It is much to be regretted that concerning a large and important part of England (Sussex, Surrey, Hants, etc.), no information is given us.

2

I. 154 b.

3

I. 172.

4

I. 179.

1

I. 262 b. See also Shropshire, I. 252.

2

I. 280 b.

1

I. 298 b.

2

I. 336 b.

3

Will. Conq. I.

1

Littré, in his Dictionary, on many occasions adduces it as eleventh century work. As to the originality of the French version, c. 45 seems to me conclusive, when it is compared with the code of Canute from which it is taken—Canute, II. 24. The Latin writer thinks that voest comes from voir ( videre ) and makes nonsense of the passage. It really means vouch and has more to do with vocare than videre . See too the absurd Latin rendering of c. 31.

2

C. 12.

3

Leges Edwardi Confessoris.

1

C. 12.

2

C. 27 (25).

3

Stubbs, Preface to Hoveden’s Chronicle (Rolls Series), vol. II., p. xlvii. The writer, who has theories of nationality, means men of Norway, not men of Norwich.

1

Decanus episcopi : the whole document seems full of the interpolations of would-be expositors.

2

C. 30 (27).

3

A better reading than Warwickshire.

4

I think that every one who has said anything of this passage has pointed out that “Anglorum” should be “Danorum,” and this is made still plainer by the MS. spoken of by Stubbs, Preface to Hoveden ( loc. cit .), where the following clause runs “and what the English ( Angli for alii ) call a hundred, these counties call a wapen take.” In the Law Magazine and Review (No. CCXLI. p. 348), I have suggested that the eight miles beyond Watling Street was meant to include the hundred “Dacorum” in Hertfordshire.

5

C. 33 (30).

1

He more than once says that Wessex is “caput regni et regum” (70, § 1; 87, § 5), a phrase which is applied to London in one version of the Confessor’s Laws.

1

Ethelred, III.

1

C. 7.

1

Under Ethelred and Canute a reaction seems to have set in against the severe penal laws of their predecessors: Ethelred, v. 3; VI. 10; Canute, II. 2.

1

“If, as is generally believed, the Anglo-Saxon hundred was the long one of six-score, the tithing ought to have contained twelve, and Fleta speaks of the frank-pledges as dozeins .”—(Stubbs, Const. Hist .,§ 41, note, p. 86.)

1

Schmid, Gesetze , Glossar. v. Geld-Rechnung .

1

Leg. Hen. Prim. 48, § 2 “Si totus comitatus, vel vii. hundreta super aliquibus implacitentur.”

2

p. 45.

1

Ethelred, VIII. 33; Canute, II. 40; Leg. Hen. Prim. 75, § 6,7.

1

Mind , 1883.

2

Data of Ethics , Preface.

1

Social Statics , Preface to American edition of 1864, adopted in Preface to stereotyped edition of 1868.

1

Data of Ethics , § 105.

1

Social Statics , c. I, § 3; Data , § 105.

2

Ch. I, § 3.

1

First Principles , § 181.

2

ibid ., § 182.

3

ibid ., § 175.

1

Social Statics , c. 2, § 4.

2

Data , § 96.

3

ibid ., § 67.

1

Data , § 96.

1

Data , § 4, 8.

1

Data , c. 7.

2

ibid ., § 46.

1

Data , § 46.

2

ibid ., § 47.

1

Social Statics , c. I, § 3, cited and defended in Data , § 105.

1

Critiques and Addresses , I.

2

Essays , Third Series, v.

3

C. 19.

1

Data , § 109.

1

Data , § 109.

2

ibid ., § 101.

3

Political Institutions , § 577.

1

Political Institutions , § 579.

1

Political Institutions , § 578.

1

Political Institutions , § 110.

1

Social Statics , c. 4, § 3; c. 6, § I.

1

Social Statics , c. 4, § 3.

1

§ 109.

2

Data , § 60.

1

Data , § 109.

1

Data , § 96, 110.

1

Data , § 110.

1

Data , § 97.

2

ibid ., § 47.

1

Data , § 105.

2

ibid .

3

Social Statics , c. 6, § I.

1

Social Statics , c. 4. § 4.

2

ibid ., § 5.

3

ibid ., § 6.

1

Data , § 61.

2

Preface to American edition of 1864, and Preface to English edition of 1868.

1

“Ueber den Gemeinspruch: Das mag in Theorie richtig sein,” etc. (Kant’s Werke , ed. Hartenstein, vol. VI., pp. 322–3).

2

Ed. cit ., vol. VII., p. 27.

3

ibid ., p. 34.

1

The Friend , First Section:—“On the Principles of Political Knowledge” (ed. 1863, vol. I., pp. 179 ff.).

1

First Section, Essay 4 (vol. I., pp. 219, 220).

2

ibid ., p. 222.

1

Inquiry concerning the Principles of Morals , sec. 3, pt. I.

1

Of Civil Government , § 28.

1

Social Statics , c. 9, § I.

1

Social Statics , c. 9, § 2.

1

Social Statics , c. 9, § 4.

2

ibid ., c. 10, § 1.

1

Social Statics , c. 10, § 2.

1

Social Statics , c. 9, § 5.

1

Political Institutions , § 540.

1

Social Statics , c. 9, § 3.

1

Political Institutions , § 541.

1

Social Statics , c. 8.

1

Data , § 36.

2

Social Statics , c. 4, § 4.

1

Social Statics , c. 12.

2

Ibid . § 3.

1

Social Statics , c. II.

1

Social Statics , c. II, § 5.

2

Principles of Sociology , § 341.

1

Social Statics , c. 17, § I.

1

Law Magasine and Review , August, 1883.

2

23 Hen. VIII., cap. I.

1

6 Edw. I., cap. 9; Stephen, vol. III., pp. 36-41.

2

13 Ric. II., stat. 2, cap. I.

3

14 Edw. III., stat. I, cap. 4.

4

52 Hen. III., cap. 25.

5

Vol. III., pp. 36, 41, 42.

6

Y. B., 21 Edw. III., p. 17b.

7

2nd Inst., 148.

8

Bracton, f. 135. Abbrev. Placit ., p. 19. A certain man named Humfrey was drowned in the pond of Roger FitzEverard, at Herst; “Angleceria fuit presentata ad horam et terminum. Infortunium.”

1

“Dialogue of the Common Law.” ( Works , ed. Molesworth, vol. VI., p. 83.)

2

Lib. 14, cap. 3.

1

Capp. 84-92.

2

f. 134 b.

1

Chron. T. Wykes, ann. 1270. (Rolls Series, Ann. Monast ., vol. IV., pp. 233-235.)

1

Arts. 295-6-8.

2

Littré defines guet-apens thus:—“I. Embῦche dressée pour assassiner, pour dévaliser quelqu’un, pour lui faire quelque grand outrage. 2. Fig. Tout dessein prémédité de nuire.”

1

Will. Conq., I. (Thorpe, Ancient Laws ; Schmid, Gesetze der Angelsachsen ).

2

Cap. 2.

1

Canute, II. 12.

2

80, secs. 2, 4.

1

Hoveden (Rolls Series), vol. II., p. 242.

2

Bromton (Decem Scriptores), p. 957; cf. Fleta, p. 63.

3

Textus Roffensis. ( Anglia Sacra , pp. 334–336; Selden’s Eadmer , p. 199.)

4

Littré, s.v. guet, aguets; Skeat, s.v. wait, await; Ducange, s.v. wachta.

1

Bracton, f. 138.

1

f. 144.

2

L’Ancienne Coutume de Normandie (ed. W. L. de Gruchy), cap. 74 (75).

1

f. 48.

2

Ed. 1583, f. 78 b.

3

Les Coutumes du Beauvoisis , cap. 30, secs. 3, 6 (ed. Beugnot, vol. I., p. 412).

1

Ann. 1245. Ordonnances des Rois de France , vol. I., pp. 56–57.

2

Ducange, s.v. agaitum, aguaitum, insidiæ, pensabiliter, pensamentum.

3

Jousse, Traité de la Justice Criminelle (ed. 1771), vol. III., pp. 481–482; Denisart, Collection de Décisions , s.v. homicide, grâce (ed. 1790); Bouteiller, Somme Rurale , ed. L. Charondas le Caron, 1611, p. 287.

1

Les Olim, ou Registres des Arrêts (ed. Beugnot), vol. I., p. 592.

1

Jousse, op. cit ., vol. I., pp. 193–195.

2

Vol. II., p. 118; vol. III., p. 56.

1

S. Matth., cap. vi., v. 34 (Vulg.).

2

Ordonnances , vol. III., p. 129.

3

Acts of Parliaments of Scotland , vol. I., p. 151.

1

Acts of Parliaments of Scotland , vol. I., p. 184.

2

Ibid ., vol. II., p. 96.

1

Exod., cap. xxi., v. 14.

1

Decret. Gregor. IX., lib. v., tit. 12, c. I.

2

Num., cap. xxxv., v. 20, seq.; Deut., cap. xix., v. 4, seq.

1

Law Quarterly Review , July, 1885.

2

Taylor dem. Atkyns v. Horde , I Burr. 107.

1

Roll for Michaelmas Term, 5 6 Hen. III. (known at the Record Office as Coram Rege Roll, Hen. III. No. 12), memb. 12. What he was seised of was a tonsura . I gather from the context that this means an instrument for clipping. See Ducange, s. v. tonsura .

2

Ibid . memb. 14.

3

Roll for Michaelmas Term, 3 4 Hen. III. (Coram Rege Roll, Hen. III. No. 3), memb. 15, dors.

1

There is a note about the seisin of stolen goods in MS. Add. 12,269, the note-book discovered by Prof. Vinogradoff; this I have copied in Pleas of the Crown, Gloucester , 1221, p. 152.

1

Cap. 5, sec. I, § 73

1

“? 1515” Cat. Brit. Mus .

1

Mich., 39 Hen. VI, fol. 30, pl. 43.

2

Ed. 1561, fol. 62 b.

3

Fol. 68.

1

The words in brackets are in some very old editions.

1

Henricus de Bracton , p. 59.

1

See Butler’s note to Co. Lit. 330 b. Dr Heusler ( Die Gewere , p. 441), whose work I had not seen when I wrote the above, says that Bracton’s seisin is Besitz einfach und schlechtweg. This seems to me perfectly true. I am happy in being able to add that in the last number of this Review Mr Robert Campbell (p. 186) and Mr Justice Holmes (p. 168) have written what makes for the same end.

1

I have seen this case on the roll. It was heard by Bracton himself, and perhaps the romanesque tag ( corpore nec animo ) may come from him.

1

L. R., 9 Eq. 511.

2

Aliud est enim possidere, longe aliud in possessione esse. Ulpian, Dig. de acquir. vel amitt. possess. (41. 2) 10.

1

Fol. 220. Observe the words contra quoscunque dejectores . As to the later law see F. N. B. 197. The writ given by Bracton supposes a sale by the lessor to the ejector, but it seems to me that Bracton thought this only an example. It appears from F. N. B. to have been questionable whether the allegation of a sale was traversable.

1

Abuses of the Common Law, 72, 76, and again in the Articles on Stat. Westm. 2.

1

Laband, Die Vermögensrechtliche Klagen , especially pp. 158–166; Heusler, Die Gewere , especially pp. 114–144, 299–304; and a brief account by Brunner in Von Holtzendorff, Encyclopaedie , Erster Theil (4 te Aufl.), p. 248.

1

Pasch., 6 Ric. II (Fitz. Abr. tit. Ejectione firmae , pl. 2). We are still dependent on Fitzherbert’s extracts for cases from this important reign.

2

Pasch., 7 Edw. IV, fol. 6, pl. 16; Mich., 21 Edw. IV, fol. II, pl. 2.

1

“servitutis fit, ut via vel iter,” MS. Rawl. C. 160.

2

“ulla pars dici,” id.

3

“et ejusdem tenementi unus ut de terminto, et alius ut de feodo vel libero tenemento,” MS. Rawl. C. 160.

1

Law Quarterly Review , October, 1886.

2

Co. Lit. 17 a, 153 a, 200 b.

1

Law Quarterly Review , July, 1885. “The Seisin of Chattels.” I am indebted to Mr M. M. Bigelow, Mr H. W. Elphinstone, and a learned critic in the Solicitors’ Journal for several new examples, both very early and very late, of the use of the word seisin in connection with chattels. (See Litt. sec. 177, also Paule v. Moodie , 2 Roll. Rep. 131.) But as to the usage of the thirteenth century, I have now, after having copied more than a thousand cases, no doubt whatever: the words possideo, possessio are extremely rare, but one can be seised of anything, even of a wife or of a husband. I have known a woman assert, in proof of her marriage, that she remained seised of her husband’s body after his death.

2

Bracton, f. 113, from Dig. 41. 2 (de acquir. vel amit. poss.) 12, § I.

1

Co. Lit. 369 a, 17 a, b.

1

8 9 Vict. c. 106, sec. 6.

1

Goodright v. Forrester , I Taunt, 613.

2

Co. Lit. 213 b; Lampet’s Case , 10 Rep. 48 a.

3

Stubbs, Const. Hist ., § 295.

1

Co. Lit. 293 a.

2

Bracton, f. 376.

3

I Vic. cap. 26, sec. 3.

4

32 Hen. VIII, cap. I.

5

34 Hen. VIII, cap. 5.

6

The cases are collected in Jarman on Wills , 4th ed., vol. I., pp. 49, 50. Perhaps they leave open some questions which will never now be answered. But the main doctrine seems beyond dispute. See Co. 3 Rep. 35 a.

1

Y. B. 39 Hen. VI, f. 18 (Mich. pl. 23).

2

3 4 Will. IV, c. 106; Co. Lit. II b.

1

8 Ass. f. 17, pl. 27.

2

3 4 Will. IV, cap. 105.

3

Co. Lit. 31 a.

4

Co. Lit. 15 b, 29 a, 31 a, 181 a.

1

It may be more to the point that Mr Challis ( Real Property , p. 182) has written to the same effect. See Leach v. Jay , 9 C. D. 42.

1

Winchester’s Case , 3 Rep. 2 b.

1

It may be convenient if I here collect in chronological order the main authorities as to escheat and forfeiture of rights of entry and rights of action. Reg. Brev. f. 164 (F. N. B. f. 144); 27 Ass. pl. 32, f. 136, 137; Fitz. Abr. Entre Congeable , pl. 38 (Hil. 2 Ric. II); 2 Hen. IV. f. 8 (Mich. pl. 37); 7 Hen. IV. f. 17 (Trin. pl. 10); 32 Hen. VI. f. 27 (Hil. pl. 16), comp. Litt. sec. 390; 37 Hen. VI. f. I. (Mich. pl. I); 15 Edw. IV. f. 14 (Mich. pl. 17), per Brian; 6 Hen. VII. f. 9 (Mich. pl. 4); 10 Hen. VII. f. 27 (Trin. pl. 13); 13 Hen. VII. f. 7 (Mich. pl. 3); Bro. Abr. Eschete , pl. 18; Co. Lit. 240 a, 268 a, b; 3 Inst. 19; 3 Rep. 2, 3, 35 a; 8 Rep. 42 b; Hale, P. C. Part I, ch. 23; Hawk, P. C. Bk. 2, ch. 49, sec. 5: Burgess v. Wheate , Eden, 177, 243. It will be noticed that none of these authorities, except perhaps the writ in the Register, is older than the middle of the fourteenth century.

2

3 Rep. 35 a; Co. Lit. 76 b.

1

Fitz. Abr. Garde , pl. 10.

2

See Asher v. Whitlock , L. R. I Q. B. I. Holmes, Common Law , p. 244.

1

I refer of course to Taylor v. Horde , I Burr. 60, a case which profoundly dissatisfied the great conveyancers of the last century, and which has lately put Mr Challis to his Greek ( Real Property , p. 329). Butler’s note on this case (Co. Lit. 330 b) seems to me the best modern account of seisin that we have.

2

Holmes, Common Law , p. 241.

1

Coke (Co. Lit. 245 b) says that “by the ancient law” the entry of the disseisee was tolled not only by a descent cast, but by the disseisor’s feoffment followed by non-claim for year and day. There was very similar law both in France and in Germany, as may be seen at large in Laband, Die Vermögensrechtlichen Klagen and Heusler, Die Gewere . I have never been able to find definite authority for Coke’s statement, but it looks to me very probable. It deprives the descent cast of its isolated singularity, and fits in with the learning of fines.

1

Capiendo inde expleta ; this phrase conveys a sense of manifest and successful achievement. When the possessor takes a crop from his land, he achieves, exploits his seisin; his seisin is now explicit. See Skeat, s.v. explicit, exploit . There is a great mass of information in Ducange, s.v. expletum . Coke, 6 Rep. 58, gives almost the true meaning, though his etymology is at fault; he derives the word from expleo (instead of explico ) and says that the grantee of a rent hath not a perfect and explete or complete estate until he hath reaped the esplees, scilicet the profit and commodity thereof.

2

4 5 Ann. c. 16, sec. 9.

1

Bract. f. 81 b, 82. The writs for compelling attornment are the Quid juris clamat and the Per quae servitia .

2

Co. Lit. 309 a; Lit. sec. 569.

1

Lit. sec. 567.

2

Co. Lit. 48 b; Bettisworth’s Case , 2 Rep. 31, 32.

3

Co. Lit. 311 b.

4

Brediman’s Case , 6 Rep. 56b.

5

Orme’s Case , L. R., 8 C. P. 281; Hadfield’s Case, ibid . 306. The last Reform Act (48 Vict. c. 3, sec. 4) has, one regrets to say, made it improbable that we shall have in the future similar displays of antique learning.

1

Benjamin, Sales , 2nd ed., p. 132.

2

Farina v. Home , 16 M. W. 119. I believe that it was Parke, B. who first introduced the term “attornment” into the discussion of cases concerning the sale of goods; but in this I may be wrong.

1

I have framed my Latin phrases on the model of Savigny’s possessio ad interdicta . Seisin, we may say, is “assize-possession.”

2

Britton, vol. II. p.303.

1

I am not sure that it was ever technically correct to say that the overlord is seised of the land; but in thirteenth century cases, he certainly has and holds the land, he has and holds it not in demesne, but in service. See Br. f. 432, 433. I have seen many cases to this effect; and I have seen nunquam aliquam seisinam habuit nec in dominico nec in servicio .

2

Bracton, f. 52 b.

1

Bracton, f. 54, 55, 246. See Nichols, Britton , vol, II., p. 185, note f.

2

Ld. Raym. 938, 953.

1

Stat. Westm. the Second (13 Edw. I), c. 5. The law is clearly stated by Blackstone, vol. III., p. 243.

1

Pollock, Principles of Contract , 4th ed., Appendix, Note G.

1

There is one rule of our present Common Law which, were it very old, would make much against what I have said, the rule, namely, that the ownership of movables can be transferred by mere agreement, by bargain and sale without delivery. I have not for gotten this, but it seemed impossible to discuss in a paper already too miscellaneous a question which has divided two masters of the Year Books. Serjeant Manning has maintained that the rule is quite modern. Lord Blackburn, on the other hand, has found it in the books of Edward the Fourth. He was not concerned, however, to trace it any further, and it seems to me that the law of an earlier time required a change of possession on the one side or the other, delivery or part-delivery of the goods, payment or part-payment of the price. Perhaps at some future time I may be allowed to state what I have been able to find about this matter. Since this article was in print examples ( a.d . 1305) of pleadings referring to the seisin of chattels have been brought to my notice by Mr G. H. Blakesley: see Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense (ed. Hardy), vol. IV., pp. 45, 49, 63, 73.

1

Law Quarterly Review , April, 1886.

2

Report of Ecclesiastical Courts Commission, 1883, Historical Appendix, p. 52, a paper proceeding from the present Bishop of Chester.

1

Annales Monastici (Osney), vol. IV., p. 62.

2

Wilkins, Concilia , vol. I., p. 585.

1

Cap. 9.

2

See Grosstest’s protest against the appointment of the Abbot of Ramsey as a justice in eyre in 1236; Letters of Grossteste (ed. Luard), p. 105.

1

Cap. 39.

2

Cap. 40. It seems that this regulation was enforced by statute in 1275. See Flores Historiarum (“Matthew of Westminster”) for that year. In Statutes of the Realm (vol. I., p. 221) this appears as a statute of uncertain date.

3

Cap. 18.

4

Cap. 68.

1

The original authorities seem to be Rad. de Diceto (ed. Stubbs), vol. I., p. 318; William of Newburgh (ed. Howlett), vol. I., p. 131; Mapes de Nugis Curialium (Camden Society), p. 63; Ralph of Coggeshall (ed. Stubbs), p. 122.

2

Will. Newburgh , I. c.

3

Libre de Antiquis Legibus (Camden Society), p. 3. As to these two cases see the paper by the Bishop of Chester referred to above.

4

Cap. 3. This is Decretal. Gregor. lib. 5, tit. 7, cap. 13.

1

Cap. 18.

2

See the orders issued to the justices in eyre; Foedera , vol. I., p. 154. Among the justices were five bishops and one abbot.

3

Comment ., vol. IV., pp. 344–5.

1

Ann. Monast . (Tewkesbury), vol. I., p. 64.

1

Bracton, f. 1.

2

Bracton, f. 123 b.

1

Ann. Monast ., vol. II., p. 296. Dr Luard (Preface, p. xxxi) regards this as a contemporary record of events.

2

Ann. Monast ., vol. III., p. 76.

3

Dr Luard’s Preface, p. x.

4

p. 44.

1

Ralph of Coggeshall , p. 190.

1

Historical Collections of Walter of Coventry . Preface by Dr Stubbs, vol. II., p. ix.

1

Historia Anglorum (ed. Madden), vol. II., p. 254.

2

See lists of Archdeacons of London and of Leicester in Hardy’s Le Neve .

3

Chron. Maj ., vol. v., p. 284.

1

Et minxit super crucem.

1

Vol. III., p. 71.

2

Dr Luard’s Preface to vol. III., p. xii.

1

Ann. Monast ., vol. IV., p. 62. See Dr Luard’s Preface, pp. x-xv.

1

Holinshed (ed. 1807), vol. II., p. 251. But the confusion is older; see Knighton (Twysden’s Scriptores ), p. 2429: it must, I think, have originated in the clerical blunder of someone who wrote crucifixus instead of immuratus .

1

Law Quarterly Review , January, 1888.

1

5 Ric. II. Stat. I. c. 7.

1

Co. Lit. 237.

1

Glanvill, XIII. c. I.

2

Bract. f. 164 b.

3

Mirror, c. 2, § 25; 2 Inst. 24.

4

Brunner, Entstehung der Schwurgerichte , pp. 297–303.

5

Stubbs, Const. Hist ., § 145; Assize of Northampton , c. 4. Madox ( Hist. Exch ., vol. II., p. 549) gives from a roll of 14 Hen. II. an entry to the effect that Ralf son of Huilard was amerced for a disseisin done against the king’s assize. The assize of novel disseisin seems therefore to have been in force as early as 1168.

1

Item est “petitoria haereditatis actio” [this means the writ of right], et competit illis, quibus jus merum descendit ab antecessoribus sicut haeredibus propinquioribus. “Possessoria” vero “haereditatis petitio” est de possessione propria, et quae dicitur “actio unde vi,” per quam restituitur spoliato, et dici poterit “assisa novae disseisinae.” Item dicitur “possessoria petitio” de possessione aliena, sicut alicujus antecessoris de aliquo tenemento de quo antecessor obiit seisitus ut de feodo, quae dicitur “actio quorum bonorum,” sive “assisa mortis antecessoris.” . . . Est etiam interdictum sive actio “quorum bonorum,” quae non oritur ex maleficio sed ex quasi contractu. Bract. f. 103 b, 104. These are learned after-thoughts. We do not suppose that the appeal of homicide was modelled on an “actio legis Aquiliae de hominibus per feloniam occisis.”

2

Stat. West. II. c. 25.

1

Bigelow, History of Procedure , p. 187.

2

Brunner, pp. 297–300, 328–330; see the Statuta et Consuetudines published by Warnkönig at the end of the second volume of his Französische Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte , especially p. II.

1

Glanv. XIII. 32–9.

2

Compare 2 Inst. 411; 8 Rep. 50.

1

Bract. f. 104, 164 b.

2

Bract. f. 161 b, 216 b.

1

Dig. de diversis regulis juris (50. 17), 153. Ut igitur nulla possessio acquiri nisi animo et corpore potest, ita nulla amittitur, nisi in qua utrumque in contrarium actum est. See Bract. f. 38 b, 39.

1

Bract. f. 163.

2

Fleta, p. 216.

3

Brit. vol. I. p. 294.

4

ibid .

1

MS. Dd. vii. 6, at f. 34 d of the Bracton.

2

Bract. f. 218 b.

3

Bract. f. 262.

1

Bract. f. 23.

2

Bract. f. 6 b.

3

Bract. f. 27 b. See also Y. B., 20 21 Edward I. pp. 8, 82.

1

Albrecht, Gewere , pp. 75–78.

2

Laband, Vermögensrechtliche Klagen , pp. 236–244; Heusler, Gewere , pp. 167–172.

3

Sohm, Altdeutsche Reichs-und Gerichtsverfassung , p. 365.

1

L. Sal. 37. Essays in A.-S. Law , p. 210.

2

Æthelst. VI. 8. § 7, 8. Essays in A. S. Law , p. 206.

1

Mirror , “Abuses of the Common Law,” No. 4.

2

Browne v. Dawson (1840), 12A. E. 624, 629; 10 L. J., Q. B. 7.

3

Pollock, Torts , p. 312.

1

Bract. f. 209 b.

1

Bract. f. 160 b, 161.

2

Brit. vol. II. p. 288.

1

The Common Law , p. 210.

2

Bract. f. 163 b.

1

Bract. f. 205.

1

Bract. f. 209 b.

1

Die Gewere , B. 3. c. 3.

2

Brit. vol. I. p. 258.

3

Bract. f. 33 b. Possessio est corporalis rei detentio, i.e. corporis et animi cum juris adminiculo concurrente. By these last words, which he had from Azo, Bracton only means that there are certain things of which there cannot be a legally protected possession.

1

Brit. vol. I. p. 309.

2

As I do not wish that any one should trust my account of Bracton’s theory of possession further than he can see it in Bracton’s own pages, I will here give references to the most important passages. I regard the discussion on f. 162 b–164 b as governing all that is said in other parts of the book. Here Bracton is expressly answering the question, Within what time may I eject my disseisor? Then see f. 165 b, 168 (line 8), 183 b–184 b, 195 b, 196, 205, 209–210 b, 212 b (line 23); also f. 30 b–31 b, 51 b–52 b. It seems to me clear that Bracton in speaking of time has but two sets of phrases, ( a ) post longum tempus, post longum intervallum, post longam et pacificam seisinam, c., ( b ) statim, incontinenti, nullo intervallo, flagrante disseisina, c.; the disseisor who is not ejected while the disseisin is “flagrant,” is not ejected until after “a long seisin.” As to excepting against a plaintiff that his possession was acquired vi ; contrast what is said on f. 160, line 6 (a passage not very intelligible as it stands) with f. 210 b, lines 7–13, where Bracton quotes the Institutes “is qui dejecit cogitur ei restituere possessionem, licet is ab eo qui vi dejecit vi, clam, vel precario possidebat.” The Normans seem to have come to a different result in developing their assize, and to have refused this remedy to a plaintiff who had obtained his seisin by force used against the defendant. See Heusler, pp. 371–2.

1

Brit. vol. I. p. 310.

1

Co. Lit. 237.

1

3 4 Will. IV, c. 27, s. 39.

2

Smith v. Tyndal , 2 Salk, 685.

1

32 Hen. VIII, c. 33.

2

32 Hen. VIII, c. 28, s. 6.

3

Mr M. M. Bigelow has kindly informed me that the old rule about descents tolling entries, as modified by the statute of 32 Hen. VIII, prevailed in Massachusetts until 1836, in Vermont until 1839, in New York until 1849. I know of no book in which the outlines of the ancient law of real property are so well stated as Stearns, Real Actions , a course of lectures delivered in the University of Harvard about seventy years ago. The learning of real actions was much better preserved in America than here, because some at least of the States had the good sense to reject our action of ejectment with its intricate fictions, and to renovate the old direct remedies.

1

Stubbs, Const. Hist . vol. III. p. 270.

2

Fortescue on the Governance of England , Introduction, p. 21. Mr Plummer, I imagine, intends to refer rather to the assize of novel disseisin than to the grand assize.

1

5 Ric. II, stat. I. c. 7; 15 Ric. II, c. 2; 4 Hen. IV, c. 8; 8 Hen. VI, c. 9; 23 Hen. VIII, c. 14; 31 Eliz. c. II; 21 Jac. I, c. 15.

2

Y. B. 9 Hen. VI, f. 19 (Pasch. pl. 12) decided the year after the statute was passed. Bro. Abr. Forcible Entrie , pl. 27.

1

Heusler, p. 373; Brunner, p. 329.

2

Glanv. lib. 13, cap. 32.

3

Stat. Merton, cap. 8; Ann Burton, p. 252; Bracton, f. 179.

4

Stat. 32 Hen. VIII, c. 2.

1

f. 164 b.

2

f. 161.

3

f. 284 b.

4

Lit. s. 492 and Coke’s comment.

5

The writ of covenant real, whereon fines were usually levied, was abolished in 1833 along with other “real and mixed actions.” See Bl. Com ., vol. III. p. 157.

1

Bract. f. 103 b, 104, 164 b.

1

See Coke’s Preface to 8 Rep.

1

See especially f. 52.

1

Stat. West. II. c. 25.

2

2 Inst. 412; compared with ibid . 154.

1

Since this article was in print, Mr H. W. Elphinstone has suggested that the curious rule of Norman law which makes the last harvest a term of limitation is very intelligible if a system of common fields and common agriculture was prevalent: it is only at harvest time that an owner does any act which manifests an exclusive ownership.

1

English Historical Review , July 1888.

1

Rotuli Hundredorum , II. 488.

2

R. H . II. 499.

3

R. H . II. 508, 509.

4

R. H . II. 640.

5

R. H . II. 504.

1

E.g. R. H . II. 434, 559, 627–8–9.

2

R. H . II. 659.

3

R. H . II. 701.

4

R. H . II. 733, another case on p. 743.

5

R. H . I. 382.

6

R. H . I. 491.

7

R. H . I. 296.

8

R. H . I. 333.

1

R. H . II. 656.

2

R. H . I. 386.

3

R. H . III. 49.

4

R. H . III. 180.

5

Cart. Rams . I. 438, 439.

1

R. H . II. 488.

1

R. H . I. 455.

2

R. H . I. 477.

3

R. H . I. 498.

4

R. H . II. 318.

5

R. H . II. 28.

1

Leg. Hen. Prim . c. 7.

1

The Reflector , February 1888.

1

An Inaugural Lecture delivered in the Arts School at Cambridge on 13 October, 1888.