INTRODUCTION. THE following sheets complete a very imperfect execution of a design, which, almost in the first moments of his engaging in the study of the law, the writer formed, of committing to paper, A SUCCINCT LITERARY HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL CODES EXTANT OF SACRED AND PROFANE LAW. Such a work, executed with ability, would be curious, interesting and instructive: the writer's projecting it shews his equal ignorance, at the time, of its nature and extent, and of his inability to execute it. It has not, however, been wholly out of his mind; so that, for a great number of years, he has been in the habit of employing his leisure hours, in the study of these codes, and in committing to paper, his observations on them. Encouraged Encouraged by the reception, which a private impression of it had received among his friends, he published, in 1799, something in the nature of a Literary History of the Old and New Testaments, (on many accounts, the most important of all codes of law) under the title, "Hora Biblica, being a connected Series of Mis"cellaneous Notes on the Original Text, Early "Versions, and printed Editions, of the Old and "New Testaments." He has since circulated among his friends, a private impression of a similar series of Notes on the Coran, the Zend-Avesta, the Vedas, the Kings, and the Edda, the sacred Codes of the Mahometans, the Parsees, the Hindoos, the Chinese, and the Scandinavians. The following sheets, containing a similar series of his Notes on the Grecian, Roman, Feudal and Canon Law, now solicit the reader's attention. As some excuse for the imperfections of these compilations, he begs leave to mention, that he has had little leisure to bestow on them, beyond occasional bits and scraps of time, which a very laborious discharge of the unceasing duties of a very laborious profession has left at his command; and which he has always found it a greater relaxation to employ in this manner, than in any other. What Before Christ. 1970. 1586. 1202. 926. What is here said on THE GRECIAN LAW, may be found to contain some account of 490. Draco and Solon V. And of the Decline of the Laws of Athens and Lacedæmon 9 ib. 15 What is said on THE ROMAN LAW, may be found to I. Of the Degree of Credit due to the Histories II. Of the Geographical Limits of the Coun- 2. The Roman Conquests in Europe 20 22 24 25 ib. 26 2. Latins, 3. And the Roman Conquests out of Europe III. Of the different Classes of Roman Subjects 1. Citizens, or those who had Jus Civitatis B |
