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PARKS AND PLAYGROUNDS. tems on an extensive scale is progressing in the United States, and two such systems are being developed at public expense with consider- able success, one in the region about Bos- ton, and the other in Essex County, N. J. At the beginning of 1902 the Metropolitan Park System for Boston and vicinity included 0248 acres of parks and 23. G miles ol parkways, and an immense ocean-bathing establishment. Be- sides this large area in parks and public reserva- tion, the city of Boston alone had 2.389 acres in parks and playgrounds, and hundreds of acres of parks were owned by the other cities and towns in the park district. In 1902 the Essex County Park System included 3548 acres of land, with a comparatively short length of ])arkways built, but many miles projected, iluch of this land lies along the ridge of the Orange Mountain, conuiianding a view of New York City and Harbor and the intervening coun- try. A feature of these two park systems is the providing of large reservations, to be left as nearly as possible in their natural state.

The preceding table gives the population, area devoted to parks, and the percentage of the total area which is in parks, for the 50 largest cities in America. The table was compiled from the Bulletin of the United States Department of Labor for September. 1900, and the column of perccntaacs lias l)ecn adilcd. It will be seen that Columbus. Ohio, has the largest percentage of its area devoted to parks. It must be remem- bered, however, that two factors enter into this proportion, and that where a city has a great area in proportion to its population, like Saint Paul, the need for public parks is not so great as in a densely crowded city like Jersey City. The latter city, crowded as it is, is one of the most poorly provided with parks of the cities of the United States.

PARLEMENT. The name borne in France, before the Revolution, by a number of local tri- biuials which exercised a great influence on the government in fields other than the judicial. The Parlemenl of Paris, the most influential and cele- brated of the French parlements, is generally sup- posed to have had its origin in the rurin ret/is of the Frankish kings, an assend)ly consisting of the lay and ecclesiastical dignitaries of the court which met >mder the presi<lency of the king or his representative and exercised a wide though undefined jurisdiction, equitable in nature. Broad- ly speaking, its powers extended to all cases in- volving the royal interest, but it also heard ap- peals from inferior courts where delay or denial of justice was concerned. T'nder the Carolingian monarchs it became the court for the trial of cases involving the high nobility, and its juris- diction was also extended over all persons living under the royal protection. In the course of time the riiria ref]is fell apart into three separate bodies: the ronxcil de roi, the chambre des comp- irx. and the Parlement proper, which name first prominently appears under St. Louis. Under Philip the Fair the legistes or members of the learned bourgeoisie began to enter the Parlement which up till then had been composed exclusive- ly of the lay and ecclesiastical nobility. These came to constitute a very important element in the bofly. as is indicated by an ordinance of 1290. which ordered that 18 laics and 16 clerks should always be in session for the doing of judicial business. The Parlement at this time comprised three chambers: the grand' chambre or full Par- lement, meeting for the rendering of decrees; the chambre des enquetes, to which was referred the greater mass of detailed work, such as prelimi- nary investigation and the sifting of testimony, and the ehambre des reurchase became general ; nominations henceforth ceased and memljership, as a rule, passed from father to son, resulting in the establishment of a so-called nobility of the robe, fully as class- conscious, as jealous of its prerogatives, and as careful of furthering its interests, as was the feudal nobility. The salary was slight, and the chief income of the magistrates was derived from fees which were very high. The kings at vari- ous times sought to increase their revenue from the sale of offices by increasing the number of members of Parlement, or even the number of chambers, there being at one time no less than nine of these in the Parlement of Paris. In 1604 the so-called Paulette was introduced in accordance with which members of Parlement paid an annual fee of 1-60 of their income in return for which their office, on death, passed to their heirs.

The provincial parlements had their rise after the Hundred Years' War. As the great feuds were revmited with the crown, parlements were established in the local capitals to perform the same judicial functions as the Parlement of Paris did within its jurisdiction. The Parlement of Toulouse had been established in 1302, but was dissolved after some time, and was not reestab- lished till 1443. The other local parlements, with the date of their foundation, were as fol- lows: Grenoble, 1461; Bordeaux, 1462: Dijon, 1477; Aix, 1501: Rouen, 1515: Rennes, 1553; Pan, 1620: Metz. 1633; Besancon. 1676; Douai, 1686; Trevoux. 17C2; Nancy, 177.5. The early theoi-y was that all the parlements constituted but one body, and that the members of one par- lement were entitled to sit in any other. This, however, was not maintained for a long time. The parlements were all on a basis of equality in that each was supreme within its jurisdiction, but a certain predominance was enjoyed by the Parlement of Paris, who.se decrees, after 1474, were binding in any part of the kingdom with- out the visa or confirmation of the local parle- ment. For the facilitation of Ijusiness the Parle- ment frequently sent out a number of its mem- bers to hold court in diflTerent places. These were known as Grand .Jours and constituted, prac- tically, courts of assize.

The political importance of the Parlement of Paris dates from the reign of Charles VI. Under Louis XL it began definitely to put itself int.i opposition to the royal will in matters of legisla tion and administration by attempting to modify the text of the royal edicts submitted to it for registration (enrej;i«/rpnicnn or by rejecting them' altogether. The process of registration, which