Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/206

 192 //. FROM THE llOO'S TO THE 1800'S And then we see that in 1535, the year in which More I /was done to death, the Year Books come to an end: in other y words, the great stream of law reports that has been flowing for near two centuries and a half, ever since the days of Edward I, becomes discontinuous and then runs dry. The exact significance of this ominous event has never yet been duly explored ; but ominous it surely is.'** Some words that Droit civil, i. 12, 16). Then the Estates General at Orleans in 1560 in effect demanded a general code : " Nous voulons une f oy, une loy, un roy" said the prolocutor of the clergy. (Dareste, Hotman, p. 20.) Both Du Moulin and Hotman recommended codification and appar- ently thought that the task would not be difficult. (VioUet, op. cit., p. 209; Dareste, op. cit., p. 21.) Then as to Germany: — "An die Klagen iiber die Verwirrung, in welche das Recht durch die scho- lastische Wissenschaft gerathen ist, kniipft sich seit dem Anfange des 16. Jahrhunderts regelmassig das Verlangen, der Kaiser moge als ein neuer Justinian das gemeine Recht des Reichs zur Einfachheit und Klarheit gesetzlich reformiren Das Verlangen nach einer Codi- fication des gemeinen Rechts zieht sich durch das ganze 16. Jahrhundert." (Stintzing, Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol. i., pp. 58-9.) In 1532 after a prolonged effort the Empire actually came by a criminal code, the so-called Carolina (Constitutio Carolina Criminalis; die peinliche Halsgerichtsordnung Karls V.), but its operation was con- fined by a clause which sanctioned the ever increasing particularism of the various states by saving their ancient customs. (Ibid., pp. 621 ff.) Within some of these states or " territories " there was in the sixteenth century a good deal of comprehensive legislation, amounting in some cases to the publication of what we might call codes. A Landrecht (to be contrasted with Reichsrecht) was issued by the prince. His leg- islative action was not always hampered by any assembly of Estates; he desired uniformity within his territory; and the jurists who fash- ioned his law-book were free to romanize as much as they pleased. The Wiirtemberg Landrecht of 1555 issued by Duke Christopher, a prince well known to Queen Elizabeth, is one of the chief instances (Stintzing, op. cit., vol. i., pp. 537 ff.; Schroder, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, ed. 3, pp. 886 ff.). The transmission of the cry for codification from Hotman to Leibnitz, and then to the enlightened monarchy of the eighteenth century is traced by Baron, Franz Hotmans Antitribonian, Bern, 1888. In Scotland also the Regent Morton (d. 1581) entertained a project of codification. A commission was appointed to prepare a uniform and compendious order of the laws. It seems to be a question among Scotch lawyers how far the book known as Balfour's Practicks repre- sents the work of the commissioners. See Diet. Nat. Biog., vol. xv., p. 317; vol. iii., p. 53. "The cessation of the Year Books in 1535 at the moment when the Henrician Terror is at its height is dramatically appropriate. A great deal, however, has yet to be done before the relevant facts will be fully known. Mr. C. C. Soule's Year-Book Bibliography, printed in Harvard Law Review, vol. xiv., p. 557, is of high importance. If by "the Year Books" we mean a series of books that have been printed, then the Year Books become intermittent some time before they cease. The first eleven years of Henry VIII are unrepresented, and there are gaps between years 14 and 18 and between 19 and 26. It remains to be seen whether there are MSS. more complete than the printed series. Then