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 252 REVIEWS OF BOOKS April Institutes. Comparing the Ars Notariae with the earlier Liber Formularius, Dr. Wahrmund notices two developments : in the style of the precedents, the rogatio and instrumentum give way to the objective carta ; and in the section de iudiciis a mere collection of formulae has become a regular ordo iudiciarius. Both give the editor an opportunity for learned and illuminating remarks on the development of the notariate. The connexion of the notary with procedure seems to arise from the fact that Italian procedure was oral in the twelfth century, and that it was not till the fourteenth that official records were adopted in upper Italy. The necessary writing was supplied by the notary, who obtained his qualification from pope, emperor, count palatine, or other imperial representative, or, as Eainerius significantly claims, from the podesta of Bologna. The most original feature is Rainerius's inclusion of libelli in the section de iudiciis, though the libellus was properly the affair of the advocate. But, apart from the necessity of recording purely oral procedure, Rainerius and many of his readers were indices as well as notaries. What makes the main interest of the Ars Notariae is that though Rainerius is not ignorant of science, his concern is not with learning, but with the actual law and practice of the civil tribunals of Bologna. The impression left by much of the glossators' work is that it is pure theory, with little or no relation to life. Rainerius may not be a great theorist, but he is in close touch with realities. The historian of Bologna will derive from him many interesting details of the important period between the reform of the Bolognese judiciary in 1210 and the great codification of the middle of the thirteenth century. The least ' actual ' part of the work is the section de libellis, where the influence of Roffredus's recently- published De Libellis et Ordine Iudiciorum is obvious and acknowledged. The union of these two subjects was coming into fashion (cf. William of Drogheda), but the inclusion of libelli in the notarial art was new and not successful ; it was dropped by Rollandinus, and the Tractatus Notaria- tus of 1468 tQok the further step of excluding the section de iudiciis. Even so the conception of the art was wide enough, and this width is due to Rainerius, who, in a final section, ' de utili modo capiendi et ordinandi omnia negotia que occurrant scribenda ', hardly knows where to stop. The text is published without the glosses which the Paris manuscript 15006 is reported to contain, ff. l r -14 v. Doubtless those quoted in the introduction are the most important, and no one who has endeavoured to reduce manuscript glosses to print will be inclined to quarrel with the author's discretion. In a purely Romanistic work the original matter has often to be sought in the glosses ; here the work itself is rich enough. F. DE ZULUETA. The Evolution of Parliament. By A. F. Pollard, M.A., Litt.D., F.B.A. (London : Longmans, 1920.) Professor Pollard's book fills a conspicuous void in our historical literature, and does so with distinction. Skilful in plan and elevation, singularly clear, and pointed to the verge of epigram, it bears the impress of the practised writer and lecturer. Addressed primarily to the intelligent