The sun., 1909-02-07

region inhabited by French people who
had lived for about century and a half
under the system originally planted
system partly Roman and partly medic
val. Mr.. Taylor notes that the conclusion
reached was at once wise and typical ot
like circumstances. English law va.
introduced In criminal matters. privat.
Law In civil matters being left undisturbs.!.
Thus in the province OF Quebec or Lower
Canada Roman private Law, a. IL was intro
duced In the seventeenth century. sur.
vived and In 1850 a civil code following
the general theory OF the French coss. I, a
promulgated. and is said TO be an st.s.
lent specimen of juristic work. In tha,
portion Of Canada which lies further
west and was settled by English emi-
grants. English law, private as well a.
public. naturally became the basis OF the
social fabric.
The legal history OF the provinces o,
Quebec was repeated in that OF Louisiana
created as a dependency Of New France
In a charter granted in 17i2, which er-
pressly provided that the laws, edicts
and ordinances OF the realm and the Gus
tom OF Paris should be extended to
Louisiana. Mr.. Taylor has no doubt
that the system absorbed some elements
from the kindred Spanish system during
the period Of Spanish domination C7es-
is0s). but Roman private law. as intro
duced by the original French charter.
survived as the basis OF private right In
the Territory Of Orleans created by Con-
gress In 1904, with boundaries substantially
the same a. those OF the present State Of
Louisiana. By two Territorial statutes
enacted in 1906. still in force in principle,
it was provided that the English common
law should be the basis OF Territorial
jurisprudence in criminal oasee, and In
1903 the Territorial Legislature In Orleans
adopted a civil code. based to a conkidsr-
able extent on the Code Napoleon. tits
well understood in Louisiana that whom
provision OF the code requires interpre-
tation recourse must be made hrst to the
decisions Of the Louisiana courts and
secondly to the principles Of Roman phi
vate law. 20 far as these are applicable
to existing conditions.
LII.
In a chapter on that combination OF
Roman and English law to which he looks
forward our author reminds us that the
public law OF Rome. constitutional and
administrative, has gradually been re-
jected because inapplicable 10 the new
conditions that arose when the Stats
system OF modern Europe. In which the
State, as the nation. 10 the unit, swept
away and superseded the ancient State
system. in which the city commonwealth
had been the unit. What has survived
is the Roman private law OF family and
property, OF contract and tort. based on
principles Of natural equity and univer-
sal reason which have not lost thei'
force with the altered circumstances Of
more recent times. In a previous chap
ter on the External History Of English
Law" DR.. Taylor dwelt with emphasis on
the fact that the public law OF England
after thousand years Of insulsr develop
ment is extending itself as the accepted
political model after which have been
fashioned the many systems of popular
government now existing.
For example. since the beginning ot
the French Revolution ell the States o.
Continental Europe have organized ma.
tional assemblies. after the pattern OF
the English Parliament. in spirit of con-
scious imitation. Then. again, through
an unconscious process Of national re-
production the English political type has
reappeareh in North American Constitu.
tutions. State and Federal, whence it has
passed in its American form into the Con-
stitutions Of Mexico. Central and South
America, with such notifications as have
been suggested by local circumstances.
By that extension OF English public Law
within less than a century over the vast
areas in Continental Europe and in Latin
America which remain preoccupied by
Roman private law a startling result
has been brought about. A new type OF
State has arisen whose outer shell Of con-
stitutional law is English and whose inner
kernel Of private law is Roman. Dr.
Taylor finds typical illustration in the
present Constitution OF the French Re-
public, whose political outer shell is mora
purely English than that Of any American
State, while it's interior code OF private
law Is Roman. Almost as striking an
illustration is cited from the blended law
systems Of the State Of Louisiana. Upon
such data was based the statement fmsde
by DR.. Taylor in the preface that every
thing now points to the conclusion that
out OF a combination Of English public
law as the outer shell. with Roman private
law as the kernel. is to arise the typical
State law system OF the future.
The value Of this work is much en-
HANGED by the two final chapters which
deal with international law and set forth
the grounds for the hope Of eventually
transmitting the law Of nations into posi-
tive law. To this feature Of the book We
may refer on another occasion This
student Of the origins OF our Federal
Constitution will also read with interest
in an appendix the epoch making tract
of Pelstiah Webster. in which was en-
bodied the first draft OF the existing
Constitution OF the United States. This
dissertation was written in February.
l7s3 more than four years before the
constitutional convention.
NEAIS At CENTS ElCH.