advances, defying the attempts which are made to taint its waters, and overwhelming all obstacles beneath its waves. Comparisons like these afford room for thankfulness, rather than for pride of heart; yet we cannot refrain from indulging in them, when the legal constitutions of the countries whose inhabitants are of Teutonic origin, are considered in relation to our English laws, which, with all their blemishes, are more conducive to the wellbeing of the commonwealth, than any other system of legislation which the wit of man has hitherto been able to devise.

From their geographical position, the Belgic and Scandinavian tribes seem to have been the first, while the Visigoths were perhaps the last, amongst the nations who wandered from the shores of the Euxine and the Eastern Asgard. Destiny led the Visigoths far from the regions which formed the chief domain of their brethren. And well might the Norwegian damsels sing in their ballads of chivalry and love-how Miklagard and the land of Spain lay wide away o'er the lee.

Myklagard ok Spanialand

Thad liggur so langt af leidi.'

Another tongue was spoken by the Spantards, and they were clad in another guise; but they trod in the pine forests of Tebar with the same spirit as their brother Goths beneath the firs of Norway. Odin, perhaps, would have disclaimed them for their degeneracy; yet the laws of Spain retained many vestiges of the wisdom which assembled the twelve deified judges beneath the ash Ygdrasil, and raised the twelve seats of doom in the vale of Ida, though centuries had elapsed since the Runic rhyme had lost its potency, and the gods their votaries. Driven from the rich empire which had been won by the prowess of his forefathers, still the Spaniard was honoured by bearing the Gothic name; and Pelayo and his successors in the after-time, were strengthened by the recollection of the old days of conquest and of glory. Under the powerful influence both of national prosperity and of national misfortune: Taught alike by the conquered Roman and the victorious Arab: Corrupted by the wealth, and luxury, and refinement of Toledo: and struggling for existence amidst the wilds of the Asturias;-Still the Spaniard never wholly forgot or belied the fierce blood of the Goth from whom he was descended.

The Peninsula and the southern provinces of Gaul were subdued by the Visigoths before their laws were reduced into writing. We are informed by St Isidore, that Euric* first gave 'written laws to the Goths. For, until the reign of Euric, they were governed by unwritten usages and customs,' in

A. D. 466-84.

which all the law of the Teutonic nations was originally contained, even after they had advanced far beyond the savage state. Where this traditionary common law exists, it is always sufficiently extensive. Few cases could have come before the predecessors of Wisogast or Bodogast, which, according to the yet unwritten Salic law, they would have been incompetent to decide. Nor is it a paradox to assert, that traditionary law is frequently as permanent as written law. Letters being in common use amongst us, we hardly know how well the memory can be trusted. The verses of the Druids, as we collect from Caesar, contained all the laws of the Gauls. In other words, the memory was assisted by an alliterative sentence, or a jingling line. Amongst the Teutonic nations, this application of the art of poesy seems to have been universal: And even now we may collect many an ancient verse which taught the law in times of old, and in which the rhyme assists the reason. for instance, are the Kentish verses- The father to the bough, Such, The son to the plough'-which, duly expounded, signify, that land held in gavel kind descends to the child though the ancestor be attainted.-A rhyme of remoter date, declared the terms upon which the Kentish freeholder was to regain the land which he had forfeited-Nygonsith seld, And nygonsith geld, And five pund to the were Ere he be a healdere. Frailty worked the loss of the dower of the Kentish widow. When the childe was born and hearde to crye,' her tenancy in her husband's land expired. The heir entered, and sent the wanton to her paramour, on whom she was thenceforward to depend for maintenance, according to the monitory verse-Se that hire wende, Se hire lende. Or, as the same hath been waggishly paraphrased by grave Master Lambard-He that doth turne or wende her, Let him also give unto her or lende her. The four indications of offence against Vert and Venison, in like manner arrange themselves in rhyme-Dog draw, stable stand, Backberinde, and bloody hand;—and this formed the precept of the Forester, and instructed him to seize the trespasser who was taken with the mayneer whilst roaming in the green-wood shade. Here also we see the origin of the old merry rhyming grants.-There is King Athelstane's famous grant to the Minster of Beverley- As free mak I the, As hert may thynk, Or eygh may see;'-and which appears to us to be one of the ancient technical forms which constitute a most important part of the law of the Northmen.-Another is the grant of William King' to Powlen Royden, of My hop and my hop lands, With all their bounds, Both up and down, From heaven to erth, • From erth to hell, For thee and thine, Therein to dwell, From 7

me and mine, To thee and thine, By a bow and a broad arrow, When I come to hunt upon Yarrow.' This language is poetical though rugged; but it yields to the charter which commemorates the gift made by the Confessor to Ranulph Peperkyng and his kindling, Of the hundred of Chelmer and Daneing, With Hart and Hind Doe and Buck, Fox and Cat, Hare and Brock, Wild fowl with all his flock, Partrich fesaunt hen and cock, Green and wild, Stub and stock, To keepen and to yeemen by all hire might, Both by day and eke by night, And houndes for to hold, Good swifte and bolde, Four greyhounds and six braches, For hare and fox and wild cattes. Earl Sweyn of Essex, Bishop Wulstane book y lered,' and Hovelyn the steward, are named in the teste of the charter; but the lively enumeration of the franchises of the forest, rather bespeaks the talent of the gleeman than the book-lere' of the bishop and the clerk.

While lands could pass by word of mouth, such rhyming grants would strongly fix themselves upon the recollection of the witnesses; and it was a kinder method than the custom of the Franks and the Allemanni, who pinched the ears, and slapped the faces of the luckless wights who were called in to authenticate their deeds; thus impressing the memory through the feelings of the outward man. It is hardly necessary to observe, that neither Athelstane, nor the Confessor, nor the Conqueror, could speak in the language which is ascribed to them. The modernization, however, of the words of these monarchs, does not detract from the substantial antiquity of the rythmical memorials of their bounty. Most of our English proverbs were undoubtedly Saxon proverbs. In like manner the royal grants became popular saws, following the course of the language as the Saxon softened into Englysch,' in the mouths of the burgesses of Beverly, and the tenants of the Hopton manor. Their actual antiquity is proved by record to be at all events considerable. The grant of Beverly is set out in the petition presented to the House of Commons on behalf of the Archbishop of York in the 3d of Henry V. Ranulph Peperkyng's charter is at least as old as the reign of Edward the Second, it being avouched in the record of a suit in one of the Courts at Westminster of Hilary Term, 17 Ed. II. It is also enrolled in the Forest Roll of Essex. The spelling is much altered in the latter copy, from which our text is taken. We think some resemblance may be traced between its versification and the style of the Gest of King Horn. These whimsical instruments may be spurious; yet they may at least be received as good evidence of the antiquity of law verse. If they were forged, similar precedents must have been then extant, otherwise the rogues who invented them would have defeated their own ends. It is VOL. XXXI. NO. 61.

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in the Ancient Custumal of Kent that we find the Kentish rhymes; two are preserved in the corrupted Saxon used after the Conquest; the third is English; but all have been equally derived from the Saxons. We may corroborate these remarks, by observing, that the Saxon laws are frequently couched in alliterative, and assonant or rhyming sentences. Alfred strengthens the law which he set upon all ranks of men, by adding, that the Earl and the Churl are to be equally subjected to its penalties. The Thane and the Theow always appear in conjunction. In these expressions, the alliteration and the antithesis are equally in the spirit of northern poetry. The clauses of the oath of fidelity prescribed by the law of Athelstane, and which was probably much more antient than the statute in which it is incorporated, are marked by alliteration and rhythmm. In the Frisick laws, almost every sentence has as many rhyme letters' as an Icelandic verse; and most of the historical recitals in that very singular collection, are evidently fragments of popular song: Eppo of Repkow begins his Saxon Mirror in hobbling

verse.

Rhythmical laws may not have been universal; verse may not always have given its aid; but, even without this artificial help, the traditionary Teutonic law could not easily be effaced from the memory of the people. Whether civil and criminal trials were decided in the popular assemblies, or by a peculiar class of hereditary or elected judges, in the presence of such meetings, the law which guided them was remembered by every freeman. Unwritten law receives few innovations. Whilst it lives in the memory of the huntsman and the warrior, it does not admit of change so readily as when entrusted to the parchment of the scribe. When letters become known, the decree which issues to meet a particular case stands upon record, and becomes a precedent for future decisions; and too great a portion of the codes of the most civilized nations, consists of laws which ought to have had only an ephemeral existence. But so long as mandate of the king which increased its rigour, or tempered use and custom' formed the law, the its severity in special cases, was forgotten when the traitor had expiated his crime by some new and signal punishment, or when the relations of the slain had been compelled to content themselves with the diminished blood fine. The existence of the exception was forgotten in the general rule; and the people reverted to their ancient customs. The bent branch flew back, when the restraining hand was removed.

It is not known, whether any of the written statutes of Euric are preserved in the Visigothic code; Berganza, we know not upon what authority, glosses the brief sentence of Isidore.

Euric, he says, collected the laws of his predecessors, adding thereto his own. In the chronicle of San Millan, Euric is said to be the king who gave the Goths a Catholic law '— Gothis legem Catholicam dedit. Neither Llorente, the last editor of the Fuero Juzgo, nor Marina, have attempted to explain this obscure expression. Berganza refers it to Euric's conversion from the heresics of Arius. But may it not simply signify, that he gave some universal law to the Gothic nation? Cardinal Baronius was of opinion, that the Visigoths had been previously subject to the laws of Theodorick the Ostrogoth; but the reign of Theodorick in Spain is involved in great obscurity; and there does not appear to be sufficient ground for rejecting the authority of Isidore, who considers Euric as the first legislator of the Visigoths.

The legislation of Euric was confined to his own people. But ALARIC, the son of Euric, confirmed to his Roman, and perhaps to his Gothic subjects, in the Gaulish provinces, the use of the Civil law, by the promulgation (A. D. 506) of an abridgement of the Theodosian code, sometimes called the Anian breviary, from the name of the Gothic senator, whose official signature certified the authenticity of the royal decree, which was also subscribed by Goaric, count of the sacred palace. The Theodosian code was the basis of the new system of legislation; but many regulations were extracted from the Constitutions of the Emperors, and the works of such of the Roman lawyers as were received as authority in the Roman tribunals.

It is very important to observe, that the legislative authority of the Visigothic kings, was exercised by them in concurrence with the national councils. The Gothic rulers imitated the state, and perhaps attempted to assume the power of the Roman emperors; but their decrees could not legally command obedience, unless sanctioned by those assemblies, which, in Spain, were always held at Toledo. The clergy and the nobles discussed the propositions made by the monarch; and the people assented to the deerees which were framed by the prelates and palatine officers. In the six first councils of Toledo, the acts are signed only by the ecclesiastical members; and the consent of the people is not always expressed. In the fourth council of Toledo, the question is put by the dignified Prelates; and the body of the clergy and the people answered- He who presumes to violate our decree, let him be Anathema Maranatha. The tenth canon of the 16th council was enacted by the priests of the Lord, the nobles of the palace, the clergy, and all the people.' Yet much was left to the discretion of the scribes; and it may be concluded, that the composition of these assemblies was nearly