Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/59

 ^. JENKS: TEUTONIC LAW 45 So feudal law is essentially a law of courts. No doubt, cer- tain general principles run through it all, and, later on, we shall see attempts, such as the Libri Feudorum, to state these in a universal form. No doubt, the right of appeal from lord to overlord tended to produce a certain uniformity in wide areas. But these appearances are apt to be delusive. The ideal type of feudal law is that so graphically depicted in the works which pass under the title of the Assises de Jeru- salem, and which profess to describe the usages of that curi- ous product of the Crusades, the Latin kingdoms of Pales- tine. These are divided into the Assises of the High and of the Low or Burgess Court respectively. Each court has its own law. The results of this fact are not very easy to describe; but very important to understand. The law of a court, as opposed to the law declared by a king or a popular assembly, will be hesitating, very deferential to precedent, not always very consistent, delighting in small shades of difference, dif- ficult to discover. These are the special characteristics of true feudal law. Where we find bold principles, simplicity, uniformity, in so-called feudal law — for example, in Eng- lish law of the thirteenth century — we may be very sure that some alien influence has been at work. Finally, the feudalism of law is responsible for one more result of great importance. Feudal law is for men of fiefs ; but all men, even in the palmy days of feudalism, are not men of fiefs. Priests are not, the rising class of merchants is not, the Jews are not. Yet they must have Law. Leaving the Jews for the present, let us look at the priests and the merchants. In the early days of the Frank dominion, the churches lived under Roman Law. For one thing, the Christian Em- perors had legislated freely on ecclesiastical matters, long before the Teutons were converted to Christianity ; and the Merowingians could hardly venture to meddle with the organ- ization of that mighty power which had destroyed their an- cient gods, and done so much to give them the victory ov^r,.__ their enemies. For another, the churches were corporations, /