the site enhanced by the attachment of buildings; and the third, the value of the buildings enhanced by the appropriation of the site to that purpose.

EDWD. S. COX-SINCLAIR.

T. HYNES.

NE

VIII. THE PASSING OF FEUDALISM.1

EARLY seven hundred years (1235-1910) are covered by the sixteen volumes of Chitty. What a slice out of a nation's history! What changes such a period of time indicates! The mind travels back from 1910, and slowly a kaleidoscopic picture is evolved, the difficulty being to prevent the rapidly-changing scene from becoming an unintelligible blur.

Take, for instance, our system of Judicial Procedurecompare for one instant the old with the new. In 1235 the judicial power was in the hands of the Church and the lay barons of feudal tenure. The carefully regulated Statute of Gloucester, passed in 1278 (6 Edw. I), was the first assault made upon the almost impregnable defences of feudalism. The final destruction was brought about in the fifteenth century. From that date down to the present time we have the gradual growth of judicial independence which to-day is the pride of our British Constitution. Church and Clergy is an illuminating heading which gives a vignette of the growth of our State Church from the time of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. Even a casual glance at the long list of Statutes shows the contest, often bitter, between the Church of England, the Church of Rome, and Nonconformity, a contest which centuries ago led to the famous utterance,

1 Sixth Edition. Chitty's Statutes. By W. H. Aggs, M.A., LL.M. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1911-13.

"See how these Christians love one another." Mr. W. H. Law is to be highly commended for the result of his labours in this direction.

There is hardly a branch of our law which shows more clearly the evolution of the nation's history from the dark regions of barbarism into the more enlightened paths of humanity and civilization than that relating to Crime. It would be impossible within the limits of a short article to trace the growth of the methods of treating crime, from the infliction of personal mutilation, the appeal to a higher Power by means of trial by combat, through its various phases down to the modern point of view which appears to regard crime rather as a disease due to vitiated environment than as an innate disorder of character. The learned Editor places on record the debt he owes to Mr. R. K. Chappell, and when we see that the subject has been divided into five sub-heads, the whole occupying nearly 500 pages, the amount of detail work involved is obvious.

As the eye glances down the lists of headings, and one sees "Public Health," one's thoughts travel back to 1235, and then down the vista of years, an appalling picture presents itself of the condition of our towns then as compared with now. The Plague, a matter of frequent occurrence in old times, is now, under our modern system of sanitation, an impossibility-The Fire of London, which cleared out so many rookeries, making way for the metropolis which to-day is the centre of the world-Local Government, with its intricate system of local authority, forming a net-work throughout the land for the carrying out of public health laws-what would one of our ancestors of 1235 say if he could revisit the world and see it in actual work, nay, what would one of our medical officers of health say if he could be trajected back to 1235 for the purposes of making comparison ?

Less startling, perhaps, are the changes in commerce and the evolution of the limited liability company from the old

guilds and chartered companies. No doubt the intricacies of the Companies (Consolidation) Act 1908 (8 Edw. VII, c. 69) are necessary to cope with modern conditions, so different from the leisured ease with which our forefathers were accustomed to transact their business. Means of transit and means of locomotion present a startling change, necessitating long series of Statutes. Railways, tubes, motor cars and steamships, were unknown in 1235; to-day, with millions invested, legislation is necessary to regulate the use and support of them. Nay, for the better protection of the public, a new tribunal, the Railway and Canal Commissioners, was found necessary to adjudicate upon points arising in connection with some of these subjects.

Undoubtedly it is within the province of individual liberty that the student sees the greatest change. No longer is the agricultural labourer tied to the soil he tills, almost if not actually the slave of his master. Autres temps autres mœurs, we have changed all that, and he is free to move from place to place. No longer is it a criminal offence for the working man to combine to improve the conditions of and rates of pay for his labour: the law of Trades Unions has altered that. No longer is it necessary for the ordinary citizen, suffering from a grievance, to pause, before writing a letter to the Times, to reflect whether he will have his ears cropped, his cheek marked with a red-hot iron, or whether he will be flogged at the tail of a cart for libel. To-day the newspapers and their correspondents are protected from those penalties, the only risk being an action for libel, with fashionable and well-feed Counsel appearing before one of our humorous judges.

The heading "Police," with its numerous Statutes regulating the duties of that splendid body of men, recall bye-gone stories of the ancient watchmen with staff and lantern, the Parish Beadle dear to the readers of Dickens, and the name of Sir Robert Peel. These and many other memories

are aroused when turning over the pages of Chitty's Statutes, and one almost envies the many writers whose contributions trace the history of our nation through so many interesting channels.

IX.-CURRENT NOTES ON INTERNATIONAL
LAW.

Honduras.

News leaks in from Central America slowly and uncertainly. It is many months since an event took place in Honduras which the international jurist cannot regard without the gravest apprehension and misgiving, and on which we briefly commented at the time.

A Mr. Valentine from the United States had a claim to a wharf at Puerto Cortes. After a formal trial the claim was given against him. The decrees of Courts are always respected. If a Court should by some miracle be chargeable with a persistent denial of justice in repeated cases, there might arise a right of remonstrance, and possibly of further steps. But the charge must be proved up to the hilt. It is the gravest possible matter to interfere with the course of justice. In all civilized countries the judicial power is an independent and sacred element in the State. However it may err, it is of the worst possible example to bring in the executive power to over-rule it. All Courts, so long as they have not forfeited their position in the sight of the world, participate in this exalted and detached position. It is better to tolerate the decrees of an imperfect, and even of a prejudiced, Court, operating within its own territorial limits, than, by exposing its deficiencies, to cast a shadow on the doctrine of judicial independence. The more remote and weak a country is, the more sedulously should reverence for its judiciary in its difficult struggles for independence. and dignity be fostered.

What did the late President's Secretary of State do in these circumstances? Did he seek, while deploring its decision, to uphold and preserve the judicial consideration of the Honduras Court? He landed 75 marines to oppose its decision at the point of the bayonet! This is nothing less. than to claim to set up a United States' enclave wherever a subject of the States may settle. It is subversive of all national independence and of all judicial tradition.

There would be no hesitation on the part of the present writer to express immediate condemnation of Great Britain when she acts improperly: nor (a more searching test) of Scotland or Japan. And it is no pleasure to find fault. with the United States. It is not too much, however, to say that this incident brands Mr. Knox as a danger to the world and its peaceful organisation. Fortunately he went out of office with Mr. Taft.

We may fairly apply to this transaction the words of General Cass, used in 1857, of the attempt of Great Britain to retain substantial control over the Bay Islands, while nominally recognising the sovereignty of. Honduras there. "Had Honduras ratified this treaty, she would have ratified the establishment of an independent State within her own limits, and a State at all times liable to foreign influence and control." (Cass to Napier, 47 State Papers, 708.)

Honduras has been unfortunate in her relations with the United States. It is not long since the late Mr. Hay screwed $10,000 out of this small community for the mistake of a sentry, who had (not without excuse) fired at and killed. an American. No nation insures the lives of its visitors against mistakes. In former days, the United States did Honduras a considerable service, in objecting to the British occupation of the Bay Islands. The objection, be it noticed, was not because of the "Monroe Doctrine," but because the occupation was in violation of the Clayton