of professional men on both sides, and any one acquainted with Ireland must see at a glance, what fearful responsibility is involved in multiplying the causes of agrarian hostility and opposition in that country. We cannot help considering Mr. Napier's project also open to similar objections; for he, too, after enlisting the aid and assistance of the Board of Works, which most gentlemen in Ireland know to their cost is rather an expensive tribunal to apply to, proposes that the parties should run the gauntlet of the County and Superior Courts with juries to settle and arrange their claims, with an option of rather ominous import in those days, namely, to apply to the Court of Chancery, where the Commissioners of the Board of Works may have any doubt upon the subject. It is not, however, upon legislation that we would chiefly rely to correct this great national evil, nor on agitation either, but on the improved and advancing spirit of the times, and the growing consciousness of proprietors, amounting to conviction, that their own immediate welfare and interests depend upon doing ample justice to their tenants, and securing them that unqualified compensation and security for their beneficial interests in the land on change of possession, which their exertions have created, and the well-being of the community now imperatively demands. We have lately witnessed the most vital and important questions, carried as it were by acclamation, and principles that had long defied the public voice and interest, even to the verge of national resistance, settled by a single resolution in a night, and set at rest for ever. We have seen doctrines -vast and beneficial doctrines-adopted, and firmly established, in our social and political system, and thus interwoven in our domestic habits and pursuits with a degree of integrity and good feeling which direct legislation never could have realised, or Acts of Parliament effected; and is it too much, then, to expect, that a similar appeal to the sound good sense as well as direct interests of the gentry of Great Britain, would be attended with the same results, and be equally successful? We have the highest opinion of the prudence and disinte rested spirit of the landed proprietors of England when called into action, and we are convinced that they must feel by this, that justice and encouragement to their tenantry on a most extensive scale must follow as the natural consequence of late events. "The dog-in-the-manger system" must be abandoned, and the dog turned out, to make room for more useful animals. It is evident that nothing practical can be gained by endless discussions upon abstract questions, which only rouse the angry passions, and bring the hostile spirit of contending parties into close collision and antagonism with each other. It is proposed, therefore, that the proprietors should take the initiative, as coming with a better grace from them, and, in order to show that there is no innate feeling of hostility at bottom, but only a suspension of that mutual spirit of co-operation which ought to exist, that a Declaratory Resolution should be enunciated at once to the following effect in both branches of the Legislature: "That in the absence of any agreement to that purport, it is wise, just, and expedient, that the proprietors of land in these countries should secure to their tenants ample compensation for all improvements effected by their capital, industry, and skill, during their respective occupancies; as being the most natural and effective mode of promoting improved husbandry and employment, protecting mutual interests, and by securing good and continued cultivation of the land, to secure for home consumption the greatest quantity of produce from domestic sources." Such a Declaratory Resolution as that would have an effect which legislation could never produce; its moral and beneficial influence would soon be felt, and the present moment is the most favourable that ever yet occurred for its adoption. It is sound in principle, its policy unquestioned in practice; it outrages no law or custom; it clashes with no great interest, but secures the union and harmony of all; it is simple, comprehensive, and just; let it only be thrown upon the current of the present times, public opinion and the force of circumstances will do much to reconcile it to those even most opposed to its operation; the principle once acknowledged and fiated by the united voices of the two some simple and practically effective machinery to carry it out, and here it must strike every one on reflection, that legal tribunals are not suited for carrying out the object in view. Their duties are to decide on the relations of Plaintiff and Defendant- of accuser and accused. Their province is to treat of past events, and to expound existing laws as they bear upon them, and even with the aid of a jury in every case, they would, it is feared, be found most imperfect and unmanageable machines to settle the relations between landlord and tenant; in fact, we would as soon entrust the mutual rights and duties of the whole agricultural community of both countries to the summary jurisdiction of a Courtmartial, than to the squadrons of lawyers, attornies, arbitrators, and jurymen that would congregate together within the walls of a Court of Law on such an occasion. As to the Board of Public Works, which Mr. Napier proposes to enlist as the basis of operations in Ireland, it is already burdened by more onerous duties, and has been so for years, than most public bodies in the kingdom; and exclusive of that, as it is chiefly executive, it could never be expected to enter into the minute details and particulars so essential to the good working of the system in either country, and which any thing like cumbrous and complicated machinery would be sure to impede. It is suggested, therefore, that a separate and distinct tribunal should be specially appointed by legislative enactment, for the purpose of carrying the above Resolution into effect. This tribunal should be composed of competent persons, practically acquainted with the subject, to direct and co-operate with other functionaries in the provinces in carrying out the details, and communicating directly with the parties interested on the spot in the different localities. It should have the power in certain cases to enable landlords, being public bodies or having proprietors with limited interests, to be relieved from such disabilities, and to grant ample powers to such parties as would require them for improving their lands, and appoint proper parties to act for remaindermen and persons under disability. In fact, the proposed tribunal should be mainly instrumental in practically giving effect to other contemporaneous and remedial measures now in contemplation for forming a regular Code of Legislation on the subject, and in advising and recommending to the responsible officers of the Crown such alterations and improvements from time to time as their experience might induce them to suggest. In order to render such a tribunal effective and popular it should be simple in its construction, and as accessible as circumstances would allow, so as to bring its influence home to every man's door. In Ireland there are ample materials for such a body in the numerous staff of resident magistrates, county engineers, and officers of the Board of Works, who could act as auxiliaries in working out the details. In England and Scotland too, as suggested by Mr. Pusey, the Inclosure Commissioners may be found available, and in both countries the magistrates at Petty Sessions should be made the groundwork of the system. A cheap and effective system of valuation might thus be constructed, while all questions of law or involving the rights of others might be referred to the head Commissioners for their consideration and decision. Such an amicable settlement of the question would do much to steady and confirm the public mind at present, and to remove those impediments to progress and improvement, so essential to the public good and the development of our national resources. ART. VI.—HISTORY OF JURISPRUDENCE. No. IV.1 § 1.2 ALTHOUGH no great writers on Jurisprudence had hitherto appeared in England, the principles of civil and political liberty had been well understood from an early age. Nor did the progress of these principles appear much endangered until the accession of the Tudor line of Sovereigns. 1 For Nos. I. and II. see vol. xvi. pp. 59. and 268.; for No. III. see vol. xvii. p. 105. The Great Charter of the liberties of England through some of its chapters asserts the natural freedom of man in language to which the experience of six centuries and of far more advanced civilisation can add but little. The twenty-ninth Chapter of Magna Charta says:"Nullus Liber Homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut disseisietur de libero tenemento suo, vel libertatibus, vel liberis consuetudinibus suis, aut utlagetur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur, nec super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terræ. Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus aut differemus justitiam, vel rectum." So the thirteenth Chapter of Magna Charta provided that all merchants should have their safe and sure conduct to depart out of England, to come into England, to tarry in and go through England, to buy and sell without any manner of civil tolls, by the old and rightful customs, except in time of war. So Bracton, in his treatise "De Legibus Angliæ," boldly laid down that the king could do only what the law allows. His power is to do justice and not injustice. While he does justice, he is the minister of the Eternal King; but when he falls into injustice, he is the minister of the devil: for he is called king, rex, from wellgoverning, not from reigning,-"a bene regendo, et non a regnando." For he is king when he governs rightly, — a tyrant when he oppresses the people entrusted to him. But the reigns of the Tudors were so unfavourable to popular liberty, and the high ideas of prerogative were so boldly advanced by the ministers of power, that it is remarkable to find the assertion of the true principles of civil government in a work displaying so much eloquence and erudition as the Ecclesiastical Polity. Richard Hooker published the first four books of his Ecclesiastical Polity' in 1594; the fifth in 1597. He died in 1600; and the remaining three books were not published until 1647. His works are remarkable for the bold exposition of constitutional principles under the then despotic government of the 1 De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ, c. 9. * Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, 3 vols. 8vo., Oxford, 1793; ib, Keble's ed., Oxford, 1841. |