NOTES.Sir R. Rede’s lectures.[1]Robert Rede was Autumn Reader at Lincoln’s Inn in 1481, Lent Reader in 1485:Black Book of Lincoln’s Inn, vol. 1., pp. 71, 83.[2]Creighton,The Early Renaissance in England, Camb. 1895.[3]Coke, Introductory Letter to Part 10 of theReports, and Preface toFirst Institute.English law and the Renaissance.[4]Sohm,Fränkisches Recht und römisches Recht, 1880, p. 77: ‘… Thatsachen in Folge deren die Renaissance an dem englischen Rechtsleben so gut wie spurlos vorüberging.’Sir T. More’s lectures.[5]Thomas More was Autumn Reader in 1511, Lent Reader in 1515:Black Book of Lincoln’s Inn, vol. 1., pp. 162, 175.The Renaissance and Roman law.[6]Étienne Pasquier,Recherches sur la France,IX. 39 (cited by Dareste,Essai sur François Hotman, Paris, 1850, p. 17): ‘Le siècle de l’an mil cinq cens nous apporta une nouvelle estude de loix qui fut de faire un mariage de l’estude du droict avec les lettres humaines par un langagelatin net et poly: et trouve trois premiers entrepreneurs de ce nouveau mesnage, Guillaume Budé, François, enfant de Paris, André Alciat, Italien Milanois, Udaric Zaze, Alleman né en la ville de Constance.’ Savigny,Geschichte des römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, ed. 2, vol.VI., p. 421: ‘Nun sind es zwei Männer, welche als Stifter und Führer der neuen Schule angesehen werden können: Alciat in Italien und Frankreich, Zasius in Deutschland. Die ersten Schriften, worin die neue Methode erscheint, fallen in das zweite Decennium des fünfzehnten [corr.sechzehnten] Jahrhunderts.’Alciato and Zäsi.Andrea Alciato was born at Alzate near Milan in 1492, studied at Pavia and Bologna, in 1518 was called to teach at Avignon, went to Milan in 1520, to Bourges in 1528, was afterwards at Pavia, Bologna and Ferrara, died at Pavia in 1550 (Pertile,Storia del diritto italiano, ed. 2, vol.II.(2), p. 428). Ulrich Zäsi was born in 1461, studied at Tübingen and at Freiburg where he became town-clerk and afterwards professor of law, died in 1535. See Stintzing,Ulrich Zasius, Basel, 1857, where (pp. 162-216) the intercourse between Erasmus, Zäsi, Alciato and Budé is described. The early Italian humanists had looked on jurisprudence with disdain and disgust. See Geiger,Renaissance und Humanismus, 1882, pp. 500-503; Voigt,Die Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums, ed. 3, vol.II., pp. 477-484. Gradually, so I understand, philologians such as Budé (d. 1540) began to discover that there was matter interesting to them inthe Corpus Juris, and a few jurists turned towards the new classical learning. See Tilley,Humanism under Francis I., inEnglish Historical Review, vol.XV., pp. 456 ff. In 1520 Zäsi, writing to Alciato, said ‘All sciences have put off their dirty clothes: only jurisprudence remains in her rags.’ (Stintzing,Ulrich Zasius, p. 107.)Rabelais and the commentators.[7]Rabelais,Pantagruel, liv.II., ch.X.: ‘Sottes et desraisonnables raisons et ineptes opinions de Accurse, Balde, Bartole, de Castro, de Imola, Hippolytus, Panorme, Bertachin, Alexander, Curtius et ces autres vieux mastins, qui jamais n’entendirent la moindre loy des Pandectes, et n’estoient que gros veaulx de disme, ignorans de tout ce qu’est necessaire à l’intelligence des loix. Car (comme il est tout certain) ilz n’avoient cognoissance de langue ny grecque, ny latine, mais seulement de gothique et barbare.… Davantage, veu que les loix sont extirpées du milieu de philosophie morale et naturelle, comment l’entendront ces folz, qui ont par Dieu moins estudié en philosophie que ma mulle. Au regard des lettres d’humanité et cognoissance des antiquités et histoires ilz en estoient chargés comme un crapaud de plumes, et en usent comme un crucifix d’un pifre, dont toutesfois les droits sont tous pleins, et sans ce ne peuvent estre entenduz.’ W. F. Smith,Rabelais, vol.I., p. 257, translates the last sentence thus: ‘With regard to the cultivated literature and knowledge of antiquities and history, they were as much provided with thosefaculties as is a toad with feathers and have as much use for them as a drunken heretic has for a crucifix.…’Back to the texts![8]Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 96: ‘Man wird sich bewusst, dass nicht in der überlieferten Schulweisheit das Wesen der Wissenschaft stecke; dass es auch hier gelte, dem Rufe des Humanismus “zurück zu den Quellen!” zu folgen.’The French school.[9]The greatest names appear to be those of François Duaren or more correctly Le Douarin (1509-1559), Jacques Cujas (1522-1590), Hugues Doneau (Donellus, 1527-1592), François Baudouin (Balduinus, 1520-1573), François Hotman (1524-1591), Denis Godefroy (1549-1622), Jacques Godefroy (1587-1652). Besides these there is Charles Du Moulin (Molinaeus, 1500-1566) whose chief work, however, was done upon French customary law, and who in the study of Roman law represents a conservative tradition. (Esmein,Histoire du droit français, ed. 2, p. 776.) Dareste (Essai sur François Hotman, p. 2) marks the five years 1546-1551 as those in which ‘nos quatre grands docteurs du seizième siècle’ (Hotman, Baudouin, Cujas, Doneau) entered on their careers.New life of the Corpus Juris.[10]Viollet,Droit civil français, p. 25: ‘C’est le mouvement scientifique de la Renaissance qui, semblable à un courant d’électricité, donne ainsi au vieux droit romain une vie nouvelle. Son autorité s’accroît par l’action d’une science, pleinede jeunesse et d’ardeur, d’une science qui, comme toutes les autres branches de l’activité humaine, s’épanouit et renaît.’ Flach, inNouvelle revue historique de droit, vol.VII., p. 222: ‘En France Cujas porte à son apogée le renom de l’école nouvelle. Quelle autre préoccupation cette école pouvait-elle avoir que de faire revivre le véritable droit de la Rome ancienne, celui que la pratique avait touché de son souffle impur, celui qu’elle avait corrompu?’Reginald Pole and the Reception.[11]Starkey’s England, Early English Text Society, 1878, pp. 192 ff.; and seeLetters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.VIII., pp. 81-84, andIbid.vol.XII., pt. 1, pp. xxxii-xxxiv. Thomas Starkey was employed in the endeavour to win Reginald Pole to King Henry’s side in the matter of the divorce from Catherine and the consequent breach with Rome. The negotiation failed, but Starkey took the opportunity of laying before Henry a dialogue which he (Starkey) had composed. The interlocutors in this dialogue were Pole and the well-known scholar Thomas Lupset, and Pole was represented as expounding his opinions touching political and ecclesiastical affairs. How far at all points Starkey fairly represented Pole’s views may be doubted. Still we have respectable evidence that Pole had talked in the strain of the following passage, and at any rate Starkey thought that in King Henry’s eyes he was befriending Pole by making him speak thus.Defects of English law.‘Thys ys no dowte but that our law and ordur thereof ys over-confuse. Hyt ys infynyte, and without ordur or end. Ther ys no stabyl grounde therin, nor sure stay; but euery one that can coloure reson makyth a stope to the best law that ys before tyme deuysyd. The suttylty of one sergeant schal enerte [enerve?] and destroy al the jugementys of many wyse men before tyme receyuyd. There is no stabyl ground in our commyn law to leyne vnto. The jugementys of yerys [i.e.the Year Books] be infynyte and ful of much controuersy; and, besyde that, of smal authoryte. The jugys are not bounden, as I vnderstond, to folow them as a rule, but aftur theyr owne lyberty they haue authoryte to juge, accordyng as they are instructyd by the sergeantys, and as the cyrcumstance of the cause doth them moue. And thys makyth jugementys and processe of our law to be wythout end and infynyte; thys causyth sutys to be long in decysyon. Therefor, to remedy thys mater groundly, hyt were necessary, in our law, to vse the same remedy that Justynyan dyd in the law of the Romaynys, to bryng thys infynyte processe to certayn endys, to cut away thys long lawys, and, by the wysdome of some polytyke and wyse men, instytute a few and bettur lawys and ordynancys. The statutys of kyngys, also, be ouer-many, euen as the constytutyonys of the emperorys were. Wherefor I wold wysch that al thes lawys schold be brought into some smal nombur, and to be wryten also in our mother tong, or els put into theLatyn, to cause them that studye the cyuyle law of our reame fyrst to begyn of the Latyn tong, wherin they myght also afturward lerne many thyngys to helpe thys professyon. Thys ys one thyng necessary to the educatyon of the nobylyte, the wych only I wold schold be admyttyd to the study of thys law. Then they myght study also the lawys of the Romaynys, where they schold see al causys and controuersys decyded by rulys more conuenyent to the ordur of nature then they be in thys barbarouse tong and Old French, wych now seruyth to no purpos els. Thys, Mastur Lvpset, ys a grete blote in our pollycy, to see al our law and commyn dyscyplyne wryten in thys barbarouse langage, wych, aftur when the youth hath lernyd, seruyth them to no purpos at al; and, besyde that, to say the truth, many of the lawys themselfys be also barbarouse and tyrannycal, as you haue before hard. [Here follows an attack on primogeniture and entail.]Reception of the civil law recommended.The wych al by thys one remedy schold be amendyd and correct, yf we myght induce the hedys of our cuntrey to admyt the same: that ys, to receyue the cyuyle law of the Romaynys, the wych ys now the commyn law almost of al Chrystyan natyonys. The wych thyng vndowtydly schold be occasyon of infynyte gudness in the ordur of our reame, the wych I coud schow you manyfestely, but the thyng hyt selfe ys so open and playn, that hyt nedyth no declaratyon at al; for who ys so blynd that seth not the grete schame to our natyon, the grete infamy and rote thatremeynyth in vs, to be gouernyd by the lawys gyuen to vs of such a barbarouse natyon as the Normannys be? Who ys so fer from rayson that consyderyth not the tyranycal and barbarouse instytutionys, infynyte ways left here among vs, whych al schold be wypt away by the receyuyng of thys wych we cal the veray cyuyle law; wych ys vndowtydly the most auncyent and nobyl monument of the Romaynys prudence and pollycy, the wych be so wryte wyth such grauyte, that yf Nature schold herselfe prescrybe partycular meanys wherby mankynd schold obserue hyr lawys, I thynke sche wold admyt the same: specyally, yf they were, by a lytyl more wysedome, brought to a lytyl bettur ordur and frame, wych myght be sone downe and put in effect. And so ther aftur that, yf the nobylyte were brought vp in thys lawys vndoubtydly our cuntrey wold schortly be restoryd to as gud cyuylyte as there ys in any other natyon; ye, and peradventure much bettur also. For though thes lawys wych I haue so praysyd be commyn among them, yet, bycause the nobylyte ther commynly dothe not exercyse them in the studys thereof, they be al applyd to lucur and gayne, bycause the popular men wych are borne in pouerty only doth exercyse them for the most parte, wych ys a grete ruyne of al gud ordur and cyuylyte. Wherefor, Master Lvpset, yf we myght bryng thys ij. thyngys to effecte—that ys to say, to haue the cyuyle law of the Romaynys to be the commyn law here of Englond with vs; and, secondary, that the nobylytein theyr youth schold study commynly therin—I thynk we schold not nede to seke partycular remedys for such mysordurys as we haue notyd before; for surely thys same publyke dyscyplyne schold redresse them lyghtly; ye, and many other mow, the wych we spake not yet of at al.’Lupset thereupon objects that, seeing we have so many years been governed by our own law, it will be hard to bring this reform to pass. Pole replies that the goodness of a prince would bring it to pass quickly: ‘the wych I pray God we may onys see.’Pole and the reform of the land laws.The Pole of the Dialogue wished to make the power to entail lands a privilege of the nobility. A project of this kind had been in the air: perhaps in King Henry’s mind. SeeLetters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.IV., pt. 2, p. 2693 (A.D.1529): ‘Draft bill … proposing to enact that from 1 Jan. next all entails be annulled and all possessions be held in fee simple.… The Act is not to affect the estates of noblemen within the degree of baron.’ This is one of the proposals for restoring the king’s feudal revenue which lead up to the Statute of Uses: an Act whose embryonic history has not yet been written, though Dr Stubbs has thrown out useful hints. (Seventeen Lectures, ed. 3, p. 321.)Starkey’s legal studies.When Pole left England in 1532 he went to Avignon where Alciato had lately been lecturing and became for a short while a pupil of Giovanni Francesco Ripa (Zimmermann,Kardinal Pole, 1893, p. 51), who was both canonist and legist. Whether at any time Pole made a serious study ofthe civil law I do not know. In 1534 Pole and Starkey were together at Padua; Pole was studying theology, Starkey the civil law. Starkey in a letter says ‘Francis Curtius is dead, to the grief of those who follow the doctrine of Bartholus.’ Perhaps we may infer from this that Starkey was in the camp of the Anti-Bartolists (Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.VII., p. 331). In 1535 he says that he has been studying the civil law in order to form ‘a better judgment of the politic order and customs used in our country’ (Ibid.vol.VIII., p. 80).The Reception in Germany.[12]For a general view of the Reception in Germany with many references to other books, see Schröder,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, ed. 2, pp. 743 ff.; ed. 3, pp. 767 ff.Modern estimates of the Reception.[13]For a moderate defence of the Reception, see Windscheid,Pandektenrecht, ed. 7, vol.I., pp. 23 ff. (§ 10). Ihering appeals from Nationality to Universality (cosmopolitanism);Geist des römischen Rechts, ed. 5, vol.I., p. 12: ‘So lange die Wissenschaft sich nicht entschliesst, dem Gedanken der Nationalität den der Universalität als gleichberechtigten zur Seite zu setzen, wird sie weder im Stande sein die Welt, in der sie selber lebt, zu begreifen, noch auch die geschehene Reception des römischen Rechts wissenschaftlich zu rechtfertigen.’ The following sentences may, I believe, be taken as typical of much that has been written of lateyears. Brunner,Grundzüge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, 1901, p. 231: ‘Allein was stets Tadel und Vorwurf hervorrufen wird, ist die Art, wie die Rezeption … durchgeführt wurde. Ein nationales Unglück war jenes engherzige Ignorieren des deutschen Rechts, jenes geistlose und rein äusserliche Aufpfropfen römischer Rechtssätze auf einheimische Verhältnisse, die Unkenntnis des Gegensatzes zwischen diesen und dem römischen Rechte, welche taub machte gegen die Wahrheit, dass kein Volk mit der Seele eines anderen zu denken vermag.’Public reading of the canon law forbidden.[14]Injunctions of 1535,Stat. Acad. Cantab.p. 134: ‘Quare volumus ut deinceps nulla legatur palam et publice lectio per academiam vestram totam in iure canonico sive pontificio nec aliquis cuiuscunque conditionis homo gradum aliquem in studio illius iuris pontificii suscipiat aut in eodem inposterum promoveatur quovis modo.’ See Mullinger,Hist. Univ. Camb.vol.I., p. 630; Cooper,Annals of Cambridge, vol.I., p. 375; and for Oxford, Ellis,Original Letters, Ser. II., vol.II., p. 60. In September 1535 Legh and Ap Ryce declare that the canon laws are ‘profligate out of this realm.’ (Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.IX., p. 138.)Despite a doubt suggested by Stubbs (Seventeen Lectures, ed. 3, p. 368), I cannot believe that the slightest hint of a degree in canon law lurks at Cambridge in the title ‘Legum Doctor’ (LL.D.): not even ‘a shadowy presentment of the doublehonour.’ See E. C. Clark,Cambridge Legal Studies, 1888, pp. 56 ff., where that title is well explained. On the continent a settled usage contrasted thedoctores legumand thedoctores decretorum. See e.g. Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 25: ‘In Italien hatten die Legisten und Decretisten verschiedene Schulen gebildet. In Deutschland waren sie zwar zu einer Facultät vereinigt, bildeten jedoch lange Zeit zwei getrennte Abtheilungen, von denen jede ihre eigenen akademischen Grade ertheilte. Neben einander erscheinen dieDoctores LegumundDoctores Decretorum, bis seit dem Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts diese Scheidung schwindet und dieDoctores utriusque iurisimmer häufiger und endlich zur Regel werden.’Sir T. Smith.[15]See Mr Pollard’s life of Smith inDict. Nat. Biog.Some important facts, especially about his ordination, were revealed by J. G. Nichols, inArchaeologia,XXXVIII.98-127.Smith and the new jurisprudence.[16]Smith says that when he first became a member of the senate at Cambridge he bought the Digest and Code and certain works of Alciatus, Zasius and Ferrarius. (See Mullinger,History of the University of Cambridge, vol.II., p. 130.) Ferrarius is, I suppose, Arnaud Ferrier, the master of Cujas. Mr Mullinger (p. 126) suggests that the Spaniard Ludovico Vives while resident at Oxford may have propagated dissatisfaction with the traditional teaching of Roman law.The Court of Requests.[17]Select Cases in the Court of Requests(Selden Society), 1898, p. cxxiii. Mr Leadam’s introduction to this volume contains a great deal of new and valuable matter concerning this important court. The title of the ‘masters of requests’ seems certainly to come hither from France. Just at this time there was a good deal of borrowing in these matters: witness the title of the ‘secretaries of state,’ which, it is said, spreads outwards from Spain to make the tour of the world.Smith’s inaugural orations.[18]Of Smith’s two orations there is a copy in Camb. Univ. Libr.Baker MSS.XXXVII.394, 414. Mr Mullinger (Hist. Univ. Cambr., vol.II., p. 127) has given an excellent summary. The following passage is that in which the Professor approaches the question whether in England there is a career open to the civilian. He has been saying that we ought not to study merely for the sake of riches. ‘Tamen si qui sint qui hoc requirant, sunt archiva Londini, sunt pontificia fora, forum est praefecti quoque classis, in quibus proclamare licet et vocem vendere; est scriptura; singuli pontifices cancellarios suos habent et officiales et commissarios, qui propter civilis et pontificii iuris professionem in hunc locum accipiuntur.’ The orator proceeds to ask whether there is any youth who ungratefully thinks that proficiency in legal science will not find an adequate reward. ‘In quo regno aut in cuius regis imperio tam stulta illum opinio tenebit? In hoccine nobilissimi atque invictissimi nostri principis Henricioctavi regno, cuius magnificentia in bonas literas, studiumque in literatos, omnium omnis memoriae principum facta meritaque superavit, cuius ingentia in academias beneficia, licet nulla unquam tacebit posteritas, tamen omni celebratione maiora reperientur. Cum strenue laboraveris et periculum ingenii tui feceris, teque non lusisse operam sed dignum aliquo operae precio et honore ostenderis, cur dejicies animum? Cur desperatione conflictabis? Cur de tanto fautore ingeniorum, tam insigni bonae indolis exploratore, tam potenti Rege, tam munifico, tam liberali et egregio amatore suorum demisse viliterque sentias?’Diplomacy and the civil law.There follows much more flattery of the king as a patron of learning of every kind. ‘Iuris quidem civilis consulti facultas in hac republica cum ad multos usus pernecessaria est, tum a principe nostro nequaquam negligi aut levem haberi, vel hoc argumento esse potest, quod tam amplo planeque regio stipendio et meam hic apud vos mediocritatem et alium Oxonii disertum ac doctum virum ius hoc civile praelegere profiterique voluit.’ And the study of the civil law is the high road to diplomatic service. ‘Ius vero civile sic est commune ut cum ex Anglia discesseris, nobiles, ignobiles, docti, indocti, sacerdotes etiam ac monachi cum aliquod specimen eruditionis videri volunt exhibuisse, nihil fere aliud perstrepunt quam quod ex hoc iure civili et pontificio sit depromptum.’The rewards for civilians.The king has wisely employed civilians in his many legations. There follow compliments paid to Stephen Gardiner,Thomas Thirlby, William Paget, Thomas Wriothesley, and Thomas Legh. On the whole, the professor can hold out to his pupils the prospect of diplomatic employment, of masterships in the chancery (‘sunt archiva Londini’), of practice in the ecclesiastical courts and the court of admiralty, and besides this they are to remember that the king is a great patron of learning. I do not see any hint that knowledge of Roman law will help a man at the bar of the ordinary English courts.For more of the attempt to put new life into the study of Roman law at Cambridge, see Mullinger,op. cit., vol.II., pp. 132 ff. Though Somerset desired to see a great civil law college which should be a nursery for diplomatists, the Edwardian or Protestant Reformation of the church was in one way very unfavourable to the study of the civil law. Bishoprics and deaneries were thenceforth reserved for divines, and thus what had been the prizes of his profession were placed beyond the jurist’s reach. Dr Nicholas Wotton (d. 1567), dean of Canterbury and York, may be regarded as one of the last specimens of an expiring race. Men who were not professionally learned, men like Sir Francis Bryan (d. 1550) and Sir Thomas Wyatt (d. 1542), had begun to compete with the doctors for diplomatic missions and appointments. Also the chancellorship of the realm had come within the ambition of the common lawyer, and (though Bishop Goodrich may be one instance to the contrary) the policy which would commit the greatseal to the hands of a prelate was the policy which would resist or reverse ecclesiastical innovations. Even the mastership of the rolls, which had been held by doctors of Padua and Bologna, fell to the common lawyers. Thomas Hannibal, master of the rolls (1523-1527), must, one would think, have been an Italian, as were the king’s Latin secretaries Andrea Ammonio and Pietro Vannes.The heathenry of the Digest.[19]See Janssen,Geschichte des deutschen Volkes, vol.I., pp. 471-501, where the cry of ‘heathenry!’ is raised against the civil law. Janssen’s attempt to praise the canon law as radically Germanic while blaming the ‘absolutistic’ tendencies of the civil law seems strange. Was not the canon law, with its pope,qui omnia iura habet in scrinio pectoris sui, absolutistic enough?Wyclif on English and Roman law.[20]Wyclif,Tractatus de officio regis, Wyclif Society, 1887, pp. 56, 193, 237, 250: ‘Leges regni Anglie excellunt leges imperiales cum sint pauce respectu earum, quia supra pauca principia relinquunt residuum epikerie [=ἐπιείκεια] sapientum.… Non credo quod plus viget in Romana civilitate subtilitas racionis sive iusticia quam in civilitate Anglicana.… Non pocius est homo clericus sive philosophus in quantum est doctor civilitatis Romane quam in quantum est iusticiarius iuris Anglicani.… Unde videtur quod si rex Anglie non permitteret canonistas vel civilistas ad hoc sustentari de suis elemosinis vel patrimonio crucifixiut studeant tales leges … non dubium quin clerus foret utilior sibi et ad ecclesiasticam promocionem humilior ex noticia civilitatis proprie quam ex noticia civilitatis duplicis aliene.’ By ‘the patrimony of the crucified’ Wyclif means ecclesiastical revenues, which some of the bishops have been using in the endowment of legal studies at the universities: e.g. Bishop Bateman at Cambridge.Wyclif and the law of the emperor.Wyclif,Select English Works, ed. Arnold, vol.III., p. 326: ‘It were more profit boþe to body and soule þat oure curatis lerneden and tauȝten many of þe kyngis statutis, þan lawe of þe emperour. For oure peple is bounden to þe kyngis statutis and not to þe emperours lawe, but in as moche as it is enclosid in Goddis hestis. Þanne moche tresour and moch tyme of many hundrid clerkis in unyversite and oþere placis is foule wastid aboute bookis of þe emperours lawe and studie about hem.… It semeþ þat curatis schulden raþere lerne and teche þe kyngis statutis, and namely þe Grete Chartre, þan þe emperours lawe or myche part of the popis. For men in oure rewme ben bounden to obeche to þe kyng and his riȝtful lawes and not so to þe emperours; and þei myȝtten wonder wel be savyd, þouȝ many lawes of þe pope had nevere be spoken, in þis world ne þe toþere.’Wyclif and paynim’s law.Wyclif,Unprinted English Works, Early English Text Society, 1880, p. 157: ‘Þe fyue and twentiþe errour: þei chesen newe lawis maad of synful men and worldly and couetyse prestis and clerkis … for now heþenne mennus lawis and worldly clerkisstatutis ben red in vnyuersitees, and curatis lernen hem faste wiþ grete desire, studie and cost.…Ibid.p. 184: … lawieris maken process bi sotilte and cauyllacions of lawe cyule, þat is moche heþene mennus lawe, and not accepten the forme of þe gospel, as ȝif þe gospel were no so good as paynymes lawe.’ It is interesting to see Janssen’s denunciation of Roman law as Pagan thus forestalled by the great heretic, in whose eyes the Decretals were but little, if at all, better than the Digest.A. Agustin in England.[21]For Antonio Agustin (born 1517, bishop of Alife 1556, bishop of Lerida 1561, archbishop of Tarragona 1576, died 1586) see Schulte,Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des canonischen Rechts, vol.III., p. 723; Maasen,Geschichte der Quellen des canonischen Rechts, vol.I., pp. xix ff. His stay in England is attested in theVenetian Calendars, 1555-6, pp. 20, 24, 32, 34, 56, 166. See alsoIbid., 1556-7, p. 1335. See also the funeral oration by And. Schott suffixed to Ant. AugustiniDe emendatione Gratiani dialogorum libri duo, Par. 1607, p. 320: ‘Iulius tertius P. M. … adeo Antonium dilexit ut et intimis consiliis adhibuerit, legatumque summa cum auctoritate in Britanniam insulam opibus florentissimam miserit, cum Rex vere Catholicus Philippus secundus Mariam reginam, Catholicorum regum Ferdinandi et Isabellae neptem, duxit uxorem.… Anno 1555 revertit ex Anglia Romam Augustinus.’ Apparently he was sent, not merely in order that he might congratulate Philip and Mary, but also that‘tanquam iurisconsultus legato adesset’ (Schulte,op. cit., p. 724). He is charged by modern historians with not having spoken plainly all that he knew about the origin of the Pseudo-Isidorian decretals. England may have contributed a little towards the explosion of the great forgery by means of books that were lent to the Magdeburg Centuriators by Queen Elizabeth and Abp. Parker. SeeForeign Calendar, 1561-2, pp. 117-9.B. John Story.[22]See Mr Pollard’s life of Story inDict. Nat. Biog.See also Dyer’sReports, f. 300. On his arraignment for high treason Story ineffectually pleaded that he had become a subject of the king of Spain.[23]See Stintzing,Ulrich Zasius, pp. 216 ff.Zasius and Luther.[24]Ranke,History of the Reformation in Germany(transl. Austin), vol.II., pp. 97-8.The French lawyers and the Reformation.[25]TheNihil hoc ad edictum praetoris!is currently ascribed to Cujas, but the ultimate authority for the story I do not know. See Brissaud,Histoire du droit français, p. 355: ‘La science laïque déclarait par la bouche d’un de ses plus grands représentants qu’elle n’était plus l’humble servante de la théologie; elle affirmait sa sécularisation.’ It seems that Cujas (‘wie beinahe alle Rechtsgelehrten seiner Zeit’) at first sided with the Reformers, but that he afterwards, at least outwardly, made his peace with the Catholic church (Spangenberg,Jacob Cujas und seine Zeitgenossen,Leipz. 1822, p. 162; Haag,La France protestante, ed. 2, vol.IV., col. 957-970). Doneau was a Calvinist; driven from France by Catholics and from Heidelberg by Lutherans, he went to Leyden and ultimately to Altdorf. Hotman was a Calvinist, intimately connected with the church of Geneva. Baudouin was compelled to leave France for Geneva, whence he went to Strassburg and Heidelberg; but he quarrelled with Calvin and was accused of changing his religion six times. Charles Du Moulin also had been an exile at Tübingen. It is said that after a Calvinistic stage he became a Lutheran; on his death-bed he returned to Catholicism: such at least was the tale told by Catholics. (See Brodeau,La vie de Maistre Charles Du Molin, Paris, 1654; Haag,La France protestante, ed. 2, vol.V., col. 783-789.) To say the least, he had been ‘ultra-gallican.’ (Schulte,Geschichte der Quellen des canonischen Rechts, vol.IV., p. 251.) Of Le Douarin also it is said ‘il était réformé de cœur’ (La France protestante, ed. 2, vol.V., col. 508). ‘Die grosse Mehrzahl der hervorragenden Juristen bekannte sich mit grösserer oder geringerer Entschiedenheit zur Partei der Hugenotten’ (Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 372).[26]Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 284.Francis Hotman and England.[27]Elizabeth’s invitation to Hotman is mentioned in theElogiumof him prefixed to hisOpera(1599),p. viii, and in Dareste’s essay (p. 5). His son John spent some time at Oxford. In 1583 John tells his father that at Oxford he has plenty of time for study ‘quamvis hic miris modis frigeat iuris civilis studium et mea hac in re opera nemini grata possit esse in Anglia’ (Hotomanorum Epistolae, Amstd., 1620, p. 325). In 1584 John was consulted along with Alberigo Gentili by the English government in the Mendoza case (Holland,Albericus Gentilis, pp. 14, 15). There is nothing improbable in the story that Francis was offered a post at Oxford. He must have been well known to Cecil. In 1562 he was active in bringing Condé into touch with Elizabeth and so in promoting the expedition to Havre. Condé’s envoy brought to Cecil a letter of introduction from Hotman (Foreign Calendar, 1561-2, p. 601). Baudouin also at this time was making himself useful to the English government. (See e.g.Foreign Calendar, 1558-9, p. 173; 1561-2, pp. 60, 367, 454, 481, 510.) It has been said that Queen Elizabeth spoke of Charles Du Moulin as her kinsman (Brodeau,Vie de C. Du Molin, p. 4). Whether in the pedigree of the Boleyns there is any ground for this story I do not know. SeeLa France protestante, ed. 2, vol.V., col. 783. Sir Thomas Craig, who is an important figure in the history of Scotch law, sat at the feet of Baudouin, and Edward Henryson, who in 1566 became a lord of session, had been a professor at Bourges (Dict. Nat. Biog.).Francis Hotman and Roman law.[28]TheEpistre adressée au tygre de la France, a violent invective against the Cardinal of Lorraine, still finds admirers among students of French prose. Apparently Hotman would have been the last man to preach a Reception of Roman law in England. Being keenly alive to the faults of Justinian’s books, he resisted the further romanization of French law, demanded a national code, admired the English limited monarchy, and by hisFranco-Galliamade himself in some sort the ancestor of the ‘Germanists.’ Some of these ‘elegant’ French jurists were so much imbued with the historical spirit that in their hands the study of Roman law became the study of an ancient history. The following words cited and translated by Dareste from Baudouin (François Hotman, p. 19) have a wonderfully modern sound: ‘Ceux qui ont étudié le droit auraient pu trouver dans l’histoire la solution de bien des difficultés, et ceux qui ont écrit l’histoire auraient mieux fait d’étudier le développement des lois et des institutions, que de s’attacher à passer en revue les armées, à décrire les camps, à raconter les batailles, à compter les morts.’ ‘Sine historia caecam esse iurisprudentiam, disait Baudouin.’ (Brissaud,Histoire du droit français, p. 349).Coke and Hotman.[29]Coke, Introductory Letter to Part 10 of theReports, and Preface to Coke upon Littleton (First Institute). The words of Hotman which moved Coke to wrath will be found inDe verbis feudalibus commentarius(F. Hotmani Opera, ed. 1599, vol.II.,p. 913) s.v.feodum. Hotman remarks that the English use the wordfee(longissime tamen a Langobardici iuris ratione et instituto) to signify ‘praedia omnia quae perpetuo iure tenentur.’ He then adds that Stephanus Pasquerius (the famous Étienne Pasquier) had given him Littleton’s book: ‘ita incondite, absurde et inconcinne scriptum, ut facile appareat verissimum esse quod Polydorus Virgilius in Anglica Historia de iure Anglicano testatus est, stultitiam in eo libro cum malitia et calumniandi studio certare.’ To a foreign ‘feudist’ Littleton’s book would seem absurd enough, because in England thefeudumhad become the general form in which all land-ownership appeared. Brunner (Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, vol.II., p. 11) puts this well: ‘Wo jedes Grundeigentum sich in Lehn verwandelt, wird das Lehn, wie die Entwicklung des englischen Rechtes zeigt, schliesslich zum Begriff des Grundeigentums.’Polydore Virgil.I have not found in Polydore Virgil’s History anything about Littleton. There is a passage however in lib.IX.(ed. Basil. 1556, p. 154) in which he denounces the unjust laws imposed by William the Conqueror and (so he says) still observed in his own day: ‘Non possum hoc loco non memorare rem tametsi omnibus notam, admiratione tamen longe dignissimam, atque dictu incredibilem: eiusmodi namque leges quae ab omnibus intelligi deberent, erant, ut etiam nunc sunt, Normanica lingua scriptae, quam neque Galli nec Angli recte callebant.’ Among the badges ofNorman iniquity is trial by jury, which Polydore cannot find in the laws of Alfred. This Italian historiographer may well be speaking what was felt by many Englishmen in Henry VIII’s day when he holds up to scorn and detestation ‘illud terribile duodecim virorum iudicium.’ Fisher and More were tried by jury.Alberigo Gentili.[30]For Gentili see Holland,Inaugural Lecture, 1874, andDict. Nat. Biog.For his attack on canon law seeDe nuptiis, lib.I., c. 19. For his quarrel with the ‘elegant’ Frenchmen, seeDe iuris interpretibus dialogi sex. The defenders of the new learning and themos Gallicus, as it was called, threw at their adversaries the word ‘barbarian’; the retort of the conservative upholders of themos Italicuswas ‘mere grammarian.’ By expelling such men as the Gentilis, Italy forfeited her pre-eminence in the world of legal study. Nevertheless it is said that both in France and Germany the practical Roman law of the courts was for a long time the law of the ‘Bartolist’ tradition. Esmein (Histoire du droit français, ed. 2, p. 776) says: ‘Cujas exerça sur le développement des théories de droit romain suivies en France une action beaucoup moins puissante que Du Moulin, et la filiation du romaniste Du Moulin n’est pas niable: par la forme comme par le fond, c’est le dernier des grands Bartolistes.’
Sir R. Rede’s lectures.
[1]Robert Rede was Autumn Reader at Lincoln’s Inn in 1481, Lent Reader in 1485:Black Book of Lincoln’s Inn, vol. 1., pp. 71, 83.
[2]Creighton,The Early Renaissance in England, Camb. 1895.
[3]Coke, Introductory Letter to Part 10 of theReports, and Preface toFirst Institute.
English law and the Renaissance.
[4]Sohm,Fränkisches Recht und römisches Recht, 1880, p. 77: ‘… Thatsachen in Folge deren die Renaissance an dem englischen Rechtsleben so gut wie spurlos vorüberging.’
Sir T. More’s lectures.
[5]Thomas More was Autumn Reader in 1511, Lent Reader in 1515:Black Book of Lincoln’s Inn, vol. 1., pp. 162, 175.
The Renaissance and Roman law.
[6]Étienne Pasquier,Recherches sur la France,IX. 39 (cited by Dareste,Essai sur François Hotman, Paris, 1850, p. 17): ‘Le siècle de l’an mil cinq cens nous apporta une nouvelle estude de loix qui fut de faire un mariage de l’estude du droict avec les lettres humaines par un langagelatin net et poly: et trouve trois premiers entrepreneurs de ce nouveau mesnage, Guillaume Budé, François, enfant de Paris, André Alciat, Italien Milanois, Udaric Zaze, Alleman né en la ville de Constance.’ Savigny,Geschichte des römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, ed. 2, vol.VI., p. 421: ‘Nun sind es zwei Männer, welche als Stifter und Führer der neuen Schule angesehen werden können: Alciat in Italien und Frankreich, Zasius in Deutschland. Die ersten Schriften, worin die neue Methode erscheint, fallen in das zweite Decennium des fünfzehnten [corr.sechzehnten] Jahrhunderts.’
Alciato and Zäsi.
Andrea Alciato was born at Alzate near Milan in 1492, studied at Pavia and Bologna, in 1518 was called to teach at Avignon, went to Milan in 1520, to Bourges in 1528, was afterwards at Pavia, Bologna and Ferrara, died at Pavia in 1550 (Pertile,Storia del diritto italiano, ed. 2, vol.II.(2), p. 428). Ulrich Zäsi was born in 1461, studied at Tübingen and at Freiburg where he became town-clerk and afterwards professor of law, died in 1535. See Stintzing,Ulrich Zasius, Basel, 1857, where (pp. 162-216) the intercourse between Erasmus, Zäsi, Alciato and Budé is described. The early Italian humanists had looked on jurisprudence with disdain and disgust. See Geiger,Renaissance und Humanismus, 1882, pp. 500-503; Voigt,Die Wiederbelebung des classischen Alterthums, ed. 3, vol.II., pp. 477-484. Gradually, so I understand, philologians such as Budé (d. 1540) began to discover that there was matter interesting to them inthe Corpus Juris, and a few jurists turned towards the new classical learning. See Tilley,Humanism under Francis I., inEnglish Historical Review, vol.XV., pp. 456 ff. In 1520 Zäsi, writing to Alciato, said ‘All sciences have put off their dirty clothes: only jurisprudence remains in her rags.’ (Stintzing,Ulrich Zasius, p. 107.)
Rabelais and the commentators.
[7]Rabelais,Pantagruel, liv.II., ch.X.: ‘Sottes et desraisonnables raisons et ineptes opinions de Accurse, Balde, Bartole, de Castro, de Imola, Hippolytus, Panorme, Bertachin, Alexander, Curtius et ces autres vieux mastins, qui jamais n’entendirent la moindre loy des Pandectes, et n’estoient que gros veaulx de disme, ignorans de tout ce qu’est necessaire à l’intelligence des loix. Car (comme il est tout certain) ilz n’avoient cognoissance de langue ny grecque, ny latine, mais seulement de gothique et barbare.… Davantage, veu que les loix sont extirpées du milieu de philosophie morale et naturelle, comment l’entendront ces folz, qui ont par Dieu moins estudié en philosophie que ma mulle. Au regard des lettres d’humanité et cognoissance des antiquités et histoires ilz en estoient chargés comme un crapaud de plumes, et en usent comme un crucifix d’un pifre, dont toutesfois les droits sont tous pleins, et sans ce ne peuvent estre entenduz.’ W. F. Smith,Rabelais, vol.I., p. 257, translates the last sentence thus: ‘With regard to the cultivated literature and knowledge of antiquities and history, they were as much provided with thosefaculties as is a toad with feathers and have as much use for them as a drunken heretic has for a crucifix.…’
Back to the texts!
[8]Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 96: ‘Man wird sich bewusst, dass nicht in der überlieferten Schulweisheit das Wesen der Wissenschaft stecke; dass es auch hier gelte, dem Rufe des Humanismus “zurück zu den Quellen!” zu folgen.’
The French school.
[9]The greatest names appear to be those of François Duaren or more correctly Le Douarin (1509-1559), Jacques Cujas (1522-1590), Hugues Doneau (Donellus, 1527-1592), François Baudouin (Balduinus, 1520-1573), François Hotman (1524-1591), Denis Godefroy (1549-1622), Jacques Godefroy (1587-1652). Besides these there is Charles Du Moulin (Molinaeus, 1500-1566) whose chief work, however, was done upon French customary law, and who in the study of Roman law represents a conservative tradition. (Esmein,Histoire du droit français, ed. 2, p. 776.) Dareste (Essai sur François Hotman, p. 2) marks the five years 1546-1551 as those in which ‘nos quatre grands docteurs du seizième siècle’ (Hotman, Baudouin, Cujas, Doneau) entered on their careers.
New life of the Corpus Juris.
[10]Viollet,Droit civil français, p. 25: ‘C’est le mouvement scientifique de la Renaissance qui, semblable à un courant d’électricité, donne ainsi au vieux droit romain une vie nouvelle. Son autorité s’accroît par l’action d’une science, pleinede jeunesse et d’ardeur, d’une science qui, comme toutes les autres branches de l’activité humaine, s’épanouit et renaît.’ Flach, inNouvelle revue historique de droit, vol.VII., p. 222: ‘En France Cujas porte à son apogée le renom de l’école nouvelle. Quelle autre préoccupation cette école pouvait-elle avoir que de faire revivre le véritable droit de la Rome ancienne, celui que la pratique avait touché de son souffle impur, celui qu’elle avait corrompu?’
Reginald Pole and the Reception.
[11]Starkey’s England, Early English Text Society, 1878, pp. 192 ff.; and seeLetters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.VIII., pp. 81-84, andIbid.vol.XII., pt. 1, pp. xxxii-xxxiv. Thomas Starkey was employed in the endeavour to win Reginald Pole to King Henry’s side in the matter of the divorce from Catherine and the consequent breach with Rome. The negotiation failed, but Starkey took the opportunity of laying before Henry a dialogue which he (Starkey) had composed. The interlocutors in this dialogue were Pole and the well-known scholar Thomas Lupset, and Pole was represented as expounding his opinions touching political and ecclesiastical affairs. How far at all points Starkey fairly represented Pole’s views may be doubted. Still we have respectable evidence that Pole had talked in the strain of the following passage, and at any rate Starkey thought that in King Henry’s eyes he was befriending Pole by making him speak thus.
Defects of English law.
‘Thys ys no dowte but that our law and ordur thereof ys over-confuse. Hyt ys infynyte, and without ordur or end. Ther ys no stabyl grounde therin, nor sure stay; but euery one that can coloure reson makyth a stope to the best law that ys before tyme deuysyd. The suttylty of one sergeant schal enerte [enerve?] and destroy al the jugementys of many wyse men before tyme receyuyd. There is no stabyl ground in our commyn law to leyne vnto. The jugementys of yerys [i.e.the Year Books] be infynyte and ful of much controuersy; and, besyde that, of smal authoryte. The jugys are not bounden, as I vnderstond, to folow them as a rule, but aftur theyr owne lyberty they haue authoryte to juge, accordyng as they are instructyd by the sergeantys, and as the cyrcumstance of the cause doth them moue. And thys makyth jugementys and processe of our law to be wythout end and infynyte; thys causyth sutys to be long in decysyon. Therefor, to remedy thys mater groundly, hyt were necessary, in our law, to vse the same remedy that Justynyan dyd in the law of the Romaynys, to bryng thys infynyte processe to certayn endys, to cut away thys long lawys, and, by the wysdome of some polytyke and wyse men, instytute a few and bettur lawys and ordynancys. The statutys of kyngys, also, be ouer-many, euen as the constytutyonys of the emperorys were. Wherefor I wold wysch that al thes lawys schold be brought into some smal nombur, and to be wryten also in our mother tong, or els put into theLatyn, to cause them that studye the cyuyle law of our reame fyrst to begyn of the Latyn tong, wherin they myght also afturward lerne many thyngys to helpe thys professyon. Thys ys one thyng necessary to the educatyon of the nobylyte, the wych only I wold schold be admyttyd to the study of thys law. Then they myght study also the lawys of the Romaynys, where they schold see al causys and controuersys decyded by rulys more conuenyent to the ordur of nature then they be in thys barbarouse tong and Old French, wych now seruyth to no purpos els. Thys, Mastur Lvpset, ys a grete blote in our pollycy, to see al our law and commyn dyscyplyne wryten in thys barbarouse langage, wych, aftur when the youth hath lernyd, seruyth them to no purpos at al; and, besyde that, to say the truth, many of the lawys themselfys be also barbarouse and tyrannycal, as you haue before hard. [Here follows an attack on primogeniture and entail.]
Reception of the civil law recommended.
The wych al by thys one remedy schold be amendyd and correct, yf we myght induce the hedys of our cuntrey to admyt the same: that ys, to receyue the cyuyle law of the Romaynys, the wych ys now the commyn law almost of al Chrystyan natyonys. The wych thyng vndowtydly schold be occasyon of infynyte gudness in the ordur of our reame, the wych I coud schow you manyfestely, but the thyng hyt selfe ys so open and playn, that hyt nedyth no declaratyon at al; for who ys so blynd that seth not the grete schame to our natyon, the grete infamy and rote thatremeynyth in vs, to be gouernyd by the lawys gyuen to vs of such a barbarouse natyon as the Normannys be? Who ys so fer from rayson that consyderyth not the tyranycal and barbarouse instytutionys, infynyte ways left here among vs, whych al schold be wypt away by the receyuyng of thys wych we cal the veray cyuyle law; wych ys vndowtydly the most auncyent and nobyl monument of the Romaynys prudence and pollycy, the wych be so wryte wyth such grauyte, that yf Nature schold herselfe prescrybe partycular meanys wherby mankynd schold obserue hyr lawys, I thynke sche wold admyt the same: specyally, yf they were, by a lytyl more wysedome, brought to a lytyl bettur ordur and frame, wych myght be sone downe and put in effect. And so ther aftur that, yf the nobylyte were brought vp in thys lawys vndoubtydly our cuntrey wold schortly be restoryd to as gud cyuylyte as there ys in any other natyon; ye, and peradventure much bettur also. For though thes lawys wych I haue so praysyd be commyn among them, yet, bycause the nobylyte ther commynly dothe not exercyse them in the studys thereof, they be al applyd to lucur and gayne, bycause the popular men wych are borne in pouerty only doth exercyse them for the most parte, wych ys a grete ruyne of al gud ordur and cyuylyte. Wherefor, Master Lvpset, yf we myght bryng thys ij. thyngys to effecte—that ys to say, to haue the cyuyle law of the Romaynys to be the commyn law here of Englond with vs; and, secondary, that the nobylytein theyr youth schold study commynly therin—I thynk we schold not nede to seke partycular remedys for such mysordurys as we haue notyd before; for surely thys same publyke dyscyplyne schold redresse them lyghtly; ye, and many other mow, the wych we spake not yet of at al.’
Lupset thereupon objects that, seeing we have so many years been governed by our own law, it will be hard to bring this reform to pass. Pole replies that the goodness of a prince would bring it to pass quickly: ‘the wych I pray God we may onys see.’
Pole and the reform of the land laws.
The Pole of the Dialogue wished to make the power to entail lands a privilege of the nobility. A project of this kind had been in the air: perhaps in King Henry’s mind. SeeLetters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.IV., pt. 2, p. 2693 (A.D.1529): ‘Draft bill … proposing to enact that from 1 Jan. next all entails be annulled and all possessions be held in fee simple.… The Act is not to affect the estates of noblemen within the degree of baron.’ This is one of the proposals for restoring the king’s feudal revenue which lead up to the Statute of Uses: an Act whose embryonic history has not yet been written, though Dr Stubbs has thrown out useful hints. (Seventeen Lectures, ed. 3, p. 321.)
Starkey’s legal studies.
When Pole left England in 1532 he went to Avignon where Alciato had lately been lecturing and became for a short while a pupil of Giovanni Francesco Ripa (Zimmermann,Kardinal Pole, 1893, p. 51), who was both canonist and legist. Whether at any time Pole made a serious study ofthe civil law I do not know. In 1534 Pole and Starkey were together at Padua; Pole was studying theology, Starkey the civil law. Starkey in a letter says ‘Francis Curtius is dead, to the grief of those who follow the doctrine of Bartholus.’ Perhaps we may infer from this that Starkey was in the camp of the Anti-Bartolists (Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.VII., p. 331). In 1535 he says that he has been studying the civil law in order to form ‘a better judgment of the politic order and customs used in our country’ (Ibid.vol.VIII., p. 80).
The Reception in Germany.
[12]For a general view of the Reception in Germany with many references to other books, see Schröder,Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, ed. 2, pp. 743 ff.; ed. 3, pp. 767 ff.
Modern estimates of the Reception.
[13]For a moderate defence of the Reception, see Windscheid,Pandektenrecht, ed. 7, vol.I., pp. 23 ff. (§ 10). Ihering appeals from Nationality to Universality (cosmopolitanism);Geist des römischen Rechts, ed. 5, vol.I., p. 12: ‘So lange die Wissenschaft sich nicht entschliesst, dem Gedanken der Nationalität den der Universalität als gleichberechtigten zur Seite zu setzen, wird sie weder im Stande sein die Welt, in der sie selber lebt, zu begreifen, noch auch die geschehene Reception des römischen Rechts wissenschaftlich zu rechtfertigen.’ The following sentences may, I believe, be taken as typical of much that has been written of lateyears. Brunner,Grundzüge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, 1901, p. 231: ‘Allein was stets Tadel und Vorwurf hervorrufen wird, ist die Art, wie die Rezeption … durchgeführt wurde. Ein nationales Unglück war jenes engherzige Ignorieren des deutschen Rechts, jenes geistlose und rein äusserliche Aufpfropfen römischer Rechtssätze auf einheimische Verhältnisse, die Unkenntnis des Gegensatzes zwischen diesen und dem römischen Rechte, welche taub machte gegen die Wahrheit, dass kein Volk mit der Seele eines anderen zu denken vermag.’
Public reading of the canon law forbidden.
[14]Injunctions of 1535,Stat. Acad. Cantab.p. 134: ‘Quare volumus ut deinceps nulla legatur palam et publice lectio per academiam vestram totam in iure canonico sive pontificio nec aliquis cuiuscunque conditionis homo gradum aliquem in studio illius iuris pontificii suscipiat aut in eodem inposterum promoveatur quovis modo.’ See Mullinger,Hist. Univ. Camb.vol.I., p. 630; Cooper,Annals of Cambridge, vol.I., p. 375; and for Oxford, Ellis,Original Letters, Ser. II., vol.II., p. 60. In September 1535 Legh and Ap Ryce declare that the canon laws are ‘profligate out of this realm.’ (Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol.IX., p. 138.)
Despite a doubt suggested by Stubbs (Seventeen Lectures, ed. 3, p. 368), I cannot believe that the slightest hint of a degree in canon law lurks at Cambridge in the title ‘Legum Doctor’ (LL.D.): not even ‘a shadowy presentment of the doublehonour.’ See E. C. Clark,Cambridge Legal Studies, 1888, pp. 56 ff., where that title is well explained. On the continent a settled usage contrasted thedoctores legumand thedoctores decretorum. See e.g. Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 25: ‘In Italien hatten die Legisten und Decretisten verschiedene Schulen gebildet. In Deutschland waren sie zwar zu einer Facultät vereinigt, bildeten jedoch lange Zeit zwei getrennte Abtheilungen, von denen jede ihre eigenen akademischen Grade ertheilte. Neben einander erscheinen dieDoctores LegumundDoctores Decretorum, bis seit dem Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts diese Scheidung schwindet und dieDoctores utriusque iurisimmer häufiger und endlich zur Regel werden.’
Sir T. Smith.
[15]See Mr Pollard’s life of Smith inDict. Nat. Biog.Some important facts, especially about his ordination, were revealed by J. G. Nichols, inArchaeologia,XXXVIII.98-127.
Smith and the new jurisprudence.
[16]Smith says that when he first became a member of the senate at Cambridge he bought the Digest and Code and certain works of Alciatus, Zasius and Ferrarius. (See Mullinger,History of the University of Cambridge, vol.II., p. 130.) Ferrarius is, I suppose, Arnaud Ferrier, the master of Cujas. Mr Mullinger (p. 126) suggests that the Spaniard Ludovico Vives while resident at Oxford may have propagated dissatisfaction with the traditional teaching of Roman law.
The Court of Requests.
[17]Select Cases in the Court of Requests(Selden Society), 1898, p. cxxiii. Mr Leadam’s introduction to this volume contains a great deal of new and valuable matter concerning this important court. The title of the ‘masters of requests’ seems certainly to come hither from France. Just at this time there was a good deal of borrowing in these matters: witness the title of the ‘secretaries of state,’ which, it is said, spreads outwards from Spain to make the tour of the world.
Smith’s inaugural orations.
[18]Of Smith’s two orations there is a copy in Camb. Univ. Libr.Baker MSS.XXXVII.394, 414. Mr Mullinger (Hist. Univ. Cambr., vol.II., p. 127) has given an excellent summary. The following passage is that in which the Professor approaches the question whether in England there is a career open to the civilian. He has been saying that we ought not to study merely for the sake of riches. ‘Tamen si qui sint qui hoc requirant, sunt archiva Londini, sunt pontificia fora, forum est praefecti quoque classis, in quibus proclamare licet et vocem vendere; est scriptura; singuli pontifices cancellarios suos habent et officiales et commissarios, qui propter civilis et pontificii iuris professionem in hunc locum accipiuntur.’ The orator proceeds to ask whether there is any youth who ungratefully thinks that proficiency in legal science will not find an adequate reward. ‘In quo regno aut in cuius regis imperio tam stulta illum opinio tenebit? In hoccine nobilissimi atque invictissimi nostri principis Henricioctavi regno, cuius magnificentia in bonas literas, studiumque in literatos, omnium omnis memoriae principum facta meritaque superavit, cuius ingentia in academias beneficia, licet nulla unquam tacebit posteritas, tamen omni celebratione maiora reperientur. Cum strenue laboraveris et periculum ingenii tui feceris, teque non lusisse operam sed dignum aliquo operae precio et honore ostenderis, cur dejicies animum? Cur desperatione conflictabis? Cur de tanto fautore ingeniorum, tam insigni bonae indolis exploratore, tam potenti Rege, tam munifico, tam liberali et egregio amatore suorum demisse viliterque sentias?’
Diplomacy and the civil law.
There follows much more flattery of the king as a patron of learning of every kind. ‘Iuris quidem civilis consulti facultas in hac republica cum ad multos usus pernecessaria est, tum a principe nostro nequaquam negligi aut levem haberi, vel hoc argumento esse potest, quod tam amplo planeque regio stipendio et meam hic apud vos mediocritatem et alium Oxonii disertum ac doctum virum ius hoc civile praelegere profiterique voluit.’ And the study of the civil law is the high road to diplomatic service. ‘Ius vero civile sic est commune ut cum ex Anglia discesseris, nobiles, ignobiles, docti, indocti, sacerdotes etiam ac monachi cum aliquod specimen eruditionis videri volunt exhibuisse, nihil fere aliud perstrepunt quam quod ex hoc iure civili et pontificio sit depromptum.’
The rewards for civilians.
The king has wisely employed civilians in his many legations. There follow compliments paid to Stephen Gardiner,Thomas Thirlby, William Paget, Thomas Wriothesley, and Thomas Legh. On the whole, the professor can hold out to his pupils the prospect of diplomatic employment, of masterships in the chancery (‘sunt archiva Londini’), of practice in the ecclesiastical courts and the court of admiralty, and besides this they are to remember that the king is a great patron of learning. I do not see any hint that knowledge of Roman law will help a man at the bar of the ordinary English courts.
For more of the attempt to put new life into the study of Roman law at Cambridge, see Mullinger,op. cit., vol.II., pp. 132 ff. Though Somerset desired to see a great civil law college which should be a nursery for diplomatists, the Edwardian or Protestant Reformation of the church was in one way very unfavourable to the study of the civil law. Bishoprics and deaneries were thenceforth reserved for divines, and thus what had been the prizes of his profession were placed beyond the jurist’s reach. Dr Nicholas Wotton (d. 1567), dean of Canterbury and York, may be regarded as one of the last specimens of an expiring race. Men who were not professionally learned, men like Sir Francis Bryan (d. 1550) and Sir Thomas Wyatt (d. 1542), had begun to compete with the doctors for diplomatic missions and appointments. Also the chancellorship of the realm had come within the ambition of the common lawyer, and (though Bishop Goodrich may be one instance to the contrary) the policy which would commit the greatseal to the hands of a prelate was the policy which would resist or reverse ecclesiastical innovations. Even the mastership of the rolls, which had been held by doctors of Padua and Bologna, fell to the common lawyers. Thomas Hannibal, master of the rolls (1523-1527), must, one would think, have been an Italian, as were the king’s Latin secretaries Andrea Ammonio and Pietro Vannes.
The heathenry of the Digest.
[19]See Janssen,Geschichte des deutschen Volkes, vol.I., pp. 471-501, where the cry of ‘heathenry!’ is raised against the civil law. Janssen’s attempt to praise the canon law as radically Germanic while blaming the ‘absolutistic’ tendencies of the civil law seems strange. Was not the canon law, with its pope,qui omnia iura habet in scrinio pectoris sui, absolutistic enough?
Wyclif on English and Roman law.
[20]Wyclif,Tractatus de officio regis, Wyclif Society, 1887, pp. 56, 193, 237, 250: ‘Leges regni Anglie excellunt leges imperiales cum sint pauce respectu earum, quia supra pauca principia relinquunt residuum epikerie [=ἐπιείκεια] sapientum.… Non credo quod plus viget in Romana civilitate subtilitas racionis sive iusticia quam in civilitate Anglicana.… Non pocius est homo clericus sive philosophus in quantum est doctor civilitatis Romane quam in quantum est iusticiarius iuris Anglicani.… Unde videtur quod si rex Anglie non permitteret canonistas vel civilistas ad hoc sustentari de suis elemosinis vel patrimonio crucifixiut studeant tales leges … non dubium quin clerus foret utilior sibi et ad ecclesiasticam promocionem humilior ex noticia civilitatis proprie quam ex noticia civilitatis duplicis aliene.’ By ‘the patrimony of the crucified’ Wyclif means ecclesiastical revenues, which some of the bishops have been using in the endowment of legal studies at the universities: e.g. Bishop Bateman at Cambridge.
Wyclif and the law of the emperor.
Wyclif,Select English Works, ed. Arnold, vol.III., p. 326: ‘It were more profit boþe to body and soule þat oure curatis lerneden and tauȝten many of þe kyngis statutis, þan lawe of þe emperour. For oure peple is bounden to þe kyngis statutis and not to þe emperours lawe, but in as moche as it is enclosid in Goddis hestis. Þanne moche tresour and moch tyme of many hundrid clerkis in unyversite and oþere placis is foule wastid aboute bookis of þe emperours lawe and studie about hem.… It semeþ þat curatis schulden raþere lerne and teche þe kyngis statutis, and namely þe Grete Chartre, þan þe emperours lawe or myche part of the popis. For men in oure rewme ben bounden to obeche to þe kyng and his riȝtful lawes and not so to þe emperours; and þei myȝtten wonder wel be savyd, þouȝ many lawes of þe pope had nevere be spoken, in þis world ne þe toþere.’
Wyclif and paynim’s law.
Wyclif,Unprinted English Works, Early English Text Society, 1880, p. 157: ‘Þe fyue and twentiþe errour: þei chesen newe lawis maad of synful men and worldly and couetyse prestis and clerkis … for now heþenne mennus lawis and worldly clerkisstatutis ben red in vnyuersitees, and curatis lernen hem faste wiþ grete desire, studie and cost.…Ibid.p. 184: … lawieris maken process bi sotilte and cauyllacions of lawe cyule, þat is moche heþene mennus lawe, and not accepten the forme of þe gospel, as ȝif þe gospel were no so good as paynymes lawe.’ It is interesting to see Janssen’s denunciation of Roman law as Pagan thus forestalled by the great heretic, in whose eyes the Decretals were but little, if at all, better than the Digest.
A. Agustin in England.
[21]For Antonio Agustin (born 1517, bishop of Alife 1556, bishop of Lerida 1561, archbishop of Tarragona 1576, died 1586) see Schulte,Geschichte der Quellen und Literatur des canonischen Rechts, vol.III., p. 723; Maasen,Geschichte der Quellen des canonischen Rechts, vol.I., pp. xix ff. His stay in England is attested in theVenetian Calendars, 1555-6, pp. 20, 24, 32, 34, 56, 166. See alsoIbid., 1556-7, p. 1335. See also the funeral oration by And. Schott suffixed to Ant. AugustiniDe emendatione Gratiani dialogorum libri duo, Par. 1607, p. 320: ‘Iulius tertius P. M. … adeo Antonium dilexit ut et intimis consiliis adhibuerit, legatumque summa cum auctoritate in Britanniam insulam opibus florentissimam miserit, cum Rex vere Catholicus Philippus secundus Mariam reginam, Catholicorum regum Ferdinandi et Isabellae neptem, duxit uxorem.… Anno 1555 revertit ex Anglia Romam Augustinus.’ Apparently he was sent, not merely in order that he might congratulate Philip and Mary, but also that‘tanquam iurisconsultus legato adesset’ (Schulte,op. cit., p. 724). He is charged by modern historians with not having spoken plainly all that he knew about the origin of the Pseudo-Isidorian decretals. England may have contributed a little towards the explosion of the great forgery by means of books that were lent to the Magdeburg Centuriators by Queen Elizabeth and Abp. Parker. SeeForeign Calendar, 1561-2, pp. 117-9.
B. John Story.
[22]See Mr Pollard’s life of Story inDict. Nat. Biog.See also Dyer’sReports, f. 300. On his arraignment for high treason Story ineffectually pleaded that he had become a subject of the king of Spain.
[23]See Stintzing,Ulrich Zasius, pp. 216 ff.
Zasius and Luther.
[24]Ranke,History of the Reformation in Germany(transl. Austin), vol.II., pp. 97-8.
The French lawyers and the Reformation.
[25]TheNihil hoc ad edictum praetoris!is currently ascribed to Cujas, but the ultimate authority for the story I do not know. See Brissaud,Histoire du droit français, p. 355: ‘La science laïque déclarait par la bouche d’un de ses plus grands représentants qu’elle n’était plus l’humble servante de la théologie; elle affirmait sa sécularisation.’ It seems that Cujas (‘wie beinahe alle Rechtsgelehrten seiner Zeit’) at first sided with the Reformers, but that he afterwards, at least outwardly, made his peace with the Catholic church (Spangenberg,Jacob Cujas und seine Zeitgenossen,Leipz. 1822, p. 162; Haag,La France protestante, ed. 2, vol.IV., col. 957-970). Doneau was a Calvinist; driven from France by Catholics and from Heidelberg by Lutherans, he went to Leyden and ultimately to Altdorf. Hotman was a Calvinist, intimately connected with the church of Geneva. Baudouin was compelled to leave France for Geneva, whence he went to Strassburg and Heidelberg; but he quarrelled with Calvin and was accused of changing his religion six times. Charles Du Moulin also had been an exile at Tübingen. It is said that after a Calvinistic stage he became a Lutheran; on his death-bed he returned to Catholicism: such at least was the tale told by Catholics. (See Brodeau,La vie de Maistre Charles Du Molin, Paris, 1654; Haag,La France protestante, ed. 2, vol.V., col. 783-789.) To say the least, he had been ‘ultra-gallican.’ (Schulte,Geschichte der Quellen des canonischen Rechts, vol.IV., p. 251.) Of Le Douarin also it is said ‘il était réformé de cœur’ (La France protestante, ed. 2, vol.V., col. 508). ‘Die grosse Mehrzahl der hervorragenden Juristen bekannte sich mit grösserer oder geringerer Entschiedenheit zur Partei der Hugenotten’ (Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 372).
[26]Stintzing,Geschichte der deutschen Rechtswissenschaft, vol.I., p. 284.
Francis Hotman and England.
[27]Elizabeth’s invitation to Hotman is mentioned in theElogiumof him prefixed to hisOpera(1599),p. viii, and in Dareste’s essay (p. 5). His son John spent some time at Oxford. In 1583 John tells his father that at Oxford he has plenty of time for study ‘quamvis hic miris modis frigeat iuris civilis studium et mea hac in re opera nemini grata possit esse in Anglia’ (Hotomanorum Epistolae, Amstd., 1620, p. 325). In 1584 John was consulted along with Alberigo Gentili by the English government in the Mendoza case (Holland,Albericus Gentilis, pp. 14, 15). There is nothing improbable in the story that Francis was offered a post at Oxford. He must have been well known to Cecil. In 1562 he was active in bringing Condé into touch with Elizabeth and so in promoting the expedition to Havre. Condé’s envoy brought to Cecil a letter of introduction from Hotman (Foreign Calendar, 1561-2, p. 601). Baudouin also at this time was making himself useful to the English government. (See e.g.Foreign Calendar, 1558-9, p. 173; 1561-2, pp. 60, 367, 454, 481, 510.) It has been said that Queen Elizabeth spoke of Charles Du Moulin as her kinsman (Brodeau,Vie de C. Du Molin, p. 4). Whether in the pedigree of the Boleyns there is any ground for this story I do not know. SeeLa France protestante, ed. 2, vol.V., col. 783. Sir Thomas Craig, who is an important figure in the history of Scotch law, sat at the feet of Baudouin, and Edward Henryson, who in 1566 became a lord of session, had been a professor at Bourges (Dict. Nat. Biog.).
Francis Hotman and Roman law.
[28]TheEpistre adressée au tygre de la France, a violent invective against the Cardinal of Lorraine, still finds admirers among students of French prose. Apparently Hotman would have been the last man to preach a Reception of Roman law in England. Being keenly alive to the faults of Justinian’s books, he resisted the further romanization of French law, demanded a national code, admired the English limited monarchy, and by hisFranco-Galliamade himself in some sort the ancestor of the ‘Germanists.’ Some of these ‘elegant’ French jurists were so much imbued with the historical spirit that in their hands the study of Roman law became the study of an ancient history. The following words cited and translated by Dareste from Baudouin (François Hotman, p. 19) have a wonderfully modern sound: ‘Ceux qui ont étudié le droit auraient pu trouver dans l’histoire la solution de bien des difficultés, et ceux qui ont écrit l’histoire auraient mieux fait d’étudier le développement des lois et des institutions, que de s’attacher à passer en revue les armées, à décrire les camps, à raconter les batailles, à compter les morts.’ ‘Sine historia caecam esse iurisprudentiam, disait Baudouin.’ (Brissaud,Histoire du droit français, p. 349).
Coke and Hotman.
[29]Coke, Introductory Letter to Part 10 of theReports, and Preface to Coke upon Littleton (First Institute). The words of Hotman which moved Coke to wrath will be found inDe verbis feudalibus commentarius(F. Hotmani Opera, ed. 1599, vol.II.,p. 913) s.v.feodum. Hotman remarks that the English use the wordfee(longissime tamen a Langobardici iuris ratione et instituto) to signify ‘praedia omnia quae perpetuo iure tenentur.’ He then adds that Stephanus Pasquerius (the famous Étienne Pasquier) had given him Littleton’s book: ‘ita incondite, absurde et inconcinne scriptum, ut facile appareat verissimum esse quod Polydorus Virgilius in Anglica Historia de iure Anglicano testatus est, stultitiam in eo libro cum malitia et calumniandi studio certare.’ To a foreign ‘feudist’ Littleton’s book would seem absurd enough, because in England thefeudumhad become the general form in which all land-ownership appeared. Brunner (Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, vol.II., p. 11) puts this well: ‘Wo jedes Grundeigentum sich in Lehn verwandelt, wird das Lehn, wie die Entwicklung des englischen Rechtes zeigt, schliesslich zum Begriff des Grundeigentums.’
Polydore Virgil.
I have not found in Polydore Virgil’s History anything about Littleton. There is a passage however in lib.IX.(ed. Basil. 1556, p. 154) in which he denounces the unjust laws imposed by William the Conqueror and (so he says) still observed in his own day: ‘Non possum hoc loco non memorare rem tametsi omnibus notam, admiratione tamen longe dignissimam, atque dictu incredibilem: eiusmodi namque leges quae ab omnibus intelligi deberent, erant, ut etiam nunc sunt, Normanica lingua scriptae, quam neque Galli nec Angli recte callebant.’ Among the badges ofNorman iniquity is trial by jury, which Polydore cannot find in the laws of Alfred. This Italian historiographer may well be speaking what was felt by many Englishmen in Henry VIII’s day when he holds up to scorn and detestation ‘illud terribile duodecim virorum iudicium.’ Fisher and More were tried by jury.
Alberigo Gentili.
[30]For Gentili see Holland,Inaugural Lecture, 1874, andDict. Nat. Biog.For his attack on canon law seeDe nuptiis, lib.I., c. 19. For his quarrel with the ‘elegant’ Frenchmen, seeDe iuris interpretibus dialogi sex. The defenders of the new learning and themos Gallicus, as it was called, threw at their adversaries the word ‘barbarian’; the retort of the conservative upholders of themos Italicuswas ‘mere grammarian.’ By expelling such men as the Gentilis, Italy forfeited her pre-eminence in the world of legal study. Nevertheless it is said that both in France and Germany the practical Roman law of the courts was for a long time the law of the ‘Bartolist’ tradition. Esmein (Histoire du droit français, ed. 2, p. 776) says: ‘Cujas exerça sur le développement des théories de droit romain suivies en France une action beaucoup moins puissante que Du Moulin, et la filiation du romaniste Du Moulin n’est pas niable: par la forme comme par le fond, c’est le dernier des grands Bartolistes.’