the compendia which still
exist in Sanskrit, they contain ample evidence that they were drawn up
after the mischief had been done. We are not of course entitled to say
that if the Twelve Tables had not been published the Romans would have
been condemned to a civilisation as feeble and perverted as that of
the Hindoos, but thus much at least is certain, that _with_ their code
they were exempt from the very chance of so unhappy a destiny.

CHAPTER II

LEGAL FICTIONS

When primitive law has once been embodied in a Code, there is an end
to what may be called its spontaneous development. Henceforward the
changes effected in it, if effected at all, are effected deliberately
and from without. It is impossible to suppose that the customs of any
race or tribe remained unaltered during the whole of the long--in some
instances the immense--interval between their declaration by a
patriarchal monarch and their publication in writing. It would be
unsafe too to affirm that no part of the alteration was effected
deliberately. But from the little we know of the progress of law
during this period, we are justified in assuming that set purpose had
the very smallest share in producing change. Such innovations on the
earliest usages as disclose themselves appear to have been dictated by
feelings and modes of thought which, under our present mental
conditions, we are unable to comprehend. A new era begins, however,
with the Codes. Wherever, after this epoch, we trace the course of
legal modification we are able to attribute it to the conscious desire
of improvement, or at all events of compassing objects other than
those which were aimed at in the primitive times.

It may seem at first sight that no general propositions worth trusting
can be elicited from the history of legal systems subsequent to the
codes. The field is too vast. We cannot be sure that we have included
a sufficient number of phenomena in our observations, or that we
accurately understand those which we have observed. But the
undertaking will be seen to be more feasible, if we consider that
after the epoch of codes the distinction between stationary and
progressive societies begins to make itself felt. It is only with the
progressive that we are concerned, and nothing is more remarkable than
their extreme fewness. In spite of overwhelming evidence, it is most
difficult for a citizen of western Europe to bring thoroughly home to
himself the truth that the civili