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 Rh Roman Law. What is questioned is the degree to which the reception went. For our part, we shall be content to accept the dictum of Van der Linden: ‘In order to answer the question what is the law in such and such a case we must first inquire whether any general law of the land or local ordinance (plaatselijke keur) having the force of law or any well-established custom can be found affecting it. The Roman Law as a model of wisdom and equity is, in default of such a law, accepted by us through custom in order to supply this want.’ The limits of this acceptance are defined by Van der Keessel in a series of theses which Professor Fockema Andreae recognizes to be substantially correct.

During the period of Spanish rule legislation became active. Many useful measures were promulgated by Charles V, such as the Placaat of May 10, 1529, relating to the transfer and hypothecation of immovable property, and, above all, the Perpetual Edict of October 4, 1540. In 1570 his son Philip II issued a Code of Criminal Procedure, which regulated the practice of the Dutch Colonies until superseded by the humaner provisions of the English Law. The Political Ordinance of April 1, 1580, though enacted by the States of Holland and West Friesland, not by the States-General, must also be mentioned as one of the formative elements of the modern