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 CRIMEA CRIMINAL LAW 485 the end of the 12th century the Genoese and Venetians obtained a foothold. The Tartars overran the peninsula in the 13th century, and maintained their rule for more than 200 years, when they became subject to the Ottomans. All their municipal institutions were left undis- turbed by the conquerors, who even allowed them to retain their own khans (princes), though as vassals of the sultan. In the latter portion of the 17th century the Russians began to covet the Crimea. In 1736 they first inva- ded it under Marshal Munnich, and in 1771 they made another invasion under Dolgorouki. They succeeded so far as to wrest it from Turkey and clothe it with a nominal national indepen- dence under the khan Shahin Gherai, who in 1783, having been expelled by the anti-Russian party, ceded his country to Russia ; and in 1784 the peninsula and its adjoining provinces were annexed to the empire. In 1854-'5 the Cri- mea was the principal theatre of the war (begun on the Danube in 1853) between Rus- sia and the allied powers England, France, Sardinia, and Turkey. The armies of the allies, consisting of 65,000 men with 5,000 horses and 80 pieces of artillery, effected a landing at the bay of Eupatoria, Sept. 14, 1854. On their southward march toward Sebastopol they encountered the Russian forces, com- manded by Prince Menshikoff, on the heights on the southern bank of the Alma. A bloody battle was fought (Sept. 20), in which the Rus- sians were compelled to retreat. Menshikoff fell back on Sebastopol, where he made prepa- rations for the defence of the fortress, and on the night of the 24th marched to Bakhtchiserai to unite with the advancing reenforcements. On Sept. 25 the British forces seized Balaklava, and on Oct. 9 the regular siege of the southern portion of Sebastopol commenced, the first bat- teries opening fire upon the town on the 17th. The Russians had sunk vessels in the entrance to the harbor, rendering the city unassailable by maritime force. On Oct. 25 and Nov. 5 the Russians attacked the besieging forces in the battles of Balaklava and Irikerman, but af- terward confined themselves mainly to the de- fensive, the frequent sorties being intended more to harass and retard the siege than to re- lieve the place definitively. Among these con- flicts some assumed almost the character of regular field battles ; such were the unsuc- cessful attack of the French upon a new re- doubt (Feb. 23, 1855), their first assault upon the Malakhoff and Redan (June 18), and the battle of the Tchernaya (Aug. 16), in which the Russians, numbering 50,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, made a last effort to break the aggressive force of the enemy. The trenches having been driven so near the Russian defen- sive works that another assault could be ven- tured, the final bombardment was opened Sept. 5, and lasted for three days. On Sept. 8 the Malakhoff and Redan were stormed and taken by the allies after a desperate struggle. The Russians, after having blown up their extensive fortifications on the southern shore of the har- bor, retreated to the north side, which the allies never seriously attempted to capture. The latter, having destroyed the costly docks, arsenals, and ship yards of Sebastopol, remained inactive in their camp, and, with the exception of the capture and sack of Kertch, no further feats of arms were accomplished. The forces of the allies were withdrawn in the summer and autumn of 1856. Since the war the Russians have made considerable efforts to restore Se- bastopol, and it has been rebuilt on an im- proved plan, and will doubtless again become a great naval arsenal. See Kinglake, " History of the Crimean War" (London, 1863-'8). CRIMINAL LAW. This branch of jurispru- dence is the earliest in development, but the latest to be reduced to a rational and consis- tent system. The predominance of penal laws may be seen in the- early legislation of every nation ; for in a rude state of society personal violence is the most pressing subject for which laws are required. Laws are accordingly en- acted for the emergency, and, as might be ex- pected, having reference to the immediate oc- casion, they partake rather of blind popular impulse than the calm deliberation of legisla- tive wisdom ; not that the laws are in fact dic- tated by the will of the people, but the legisla- tors themselves are under the influence of the same prejudices that actuate the popular mind. The consequence is, that excessive severity at first prevails, which in the course of time is meliorated by evasion of the laws, and the contrary extreme of undue laxity has in many instances succeeded. The latter effect can be guarded against only by a timely revision of the laws, and an accommodation of them to the more humane views resulting from an ad- vance of civilization. But the practical wis- dom required for such a revision is the very latest growth of civilization, and belongs to the highest branch of political science. It has in- deed been erroneously supposed that criminal law is extremely simple as compared with the laws relating to property. This idea has grown out of the fact that legislation respect- ing crimes has by necessity been called for when as yet the state of society was unsettled. Laws were made for individual cases, and by consequence were destitute of sound legal dis- crimination ; yet by long use, and for want of the capacity required for systematic review and amendment, they have become fixed in all their incongruity. This irregular character of criminal laws is not peculiar to one or a few- nations, but is observable in all systems of ju- risprudence which have not in a later and more mature age undergone revision. Hence crim- inal law has more a statutory or positive char- acter than the more gradually developed sys- tem of laws affecting property. In the absence of general principles and of all harmonizing method, each statute or provision of law is iso- lated, distinct, and positive, and therefore pre- cludes all reasoning by analogy and all modifi-