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stances, of drawing up a long catalogue for the direction of the judge, which, however long it may be, will frequently be found insufficient; and of almost recurring to the doctrine of legal proofs, to supply the place of the internal conviction and consciousness of the jury.

These general views will suffice to make us understand, the great advantage, which may be derived from the study and comparison of different systems of law, and the utility of a collection destined to make known to us the texts of these systems. But I shall follow them with two observations, which I consider essential to prevent the abuse resulting from false or incomplete knowledge, which is always more dangerous than ignorance.

The first is, that if the comparison of foreign systems of law may be fruitful and instructive, when they are studied as a whole, in their relations with the government, and with public manners, nothing is more dangerous, on the other hand, than those arguments and inductions of analogy, which are frequently attempted to be drawn from isolated citations, taken from their native place, and transported, without any of the circumstances which render them proper in their own country, into the midst of a civilization, a legislation, and a political organization, to which they are completely foreign.

The second observation, which is only a corollary from the preceding, is, that the utility of a collection like that which we are now examining, so far as the science of comparative law is concerned, will not really exist, until the collection shall have been completed, or, at least, until it shall have brought together the principal and original types. In fact, it is the same, under this relation, with the science of comparative law as with statistics; we shall expose ourselves to error, if we hasten to draw conclusions of too general a character, from a system of observation which is as yet incomplete.

This is an additional reason, that should induce men of science to take a large share of interest in the enterprise of Mr. Foucher, and to aid him, by their benevolent encouragements, to persevere, to proceed rapidly towards his conclusion, and to make his publication, what it ought to be, according to his plan, an universal body of modern law.

We proceed now to give some account of the other codes contained in Mr. Foucher's collection; and, for this purpose, we shall make a free use of the materials, which we find in the codes themselves and in the introductory notices prefixed to them. We begin with the Austrian civil code.

About the middle of the eighteenth century, the first attempts were made in Germany, to supply the place of the different sources of private law hitherto in force by complete codes.

Prussia led the way, and, between 1749 and 1752, appeared the project known under the name of the Corpus Juris Fridericiani. About the same time (1753), the empress Maria-Theresa organized a legislative commission composed of jurisconsults, magistrates, and advocates, to whom she gave clear and substantial instructions, determining the extent of their authority. The commission was limited to the compilation of a code of private law, in which, whilst the laws already in use were to be preserved, the different provincial laws should be brought into harmony, and the common law reduced to a useful form.

Professor Azzoni was afterwards appointed to compile a project of a general code; but his work, (completed in 1767, and consisting of eight folio volumes), being entirely founded upon the Roman law and its interpreters, did not correspond to the wise intentions of the empress. This she made known to the legislative commission, in a resolution inviting them especially to abridge and simplify this work, by attaching themselves less to the letter of the Roman law.

The celebrated professor Horten was consequently charged with a revision of the first work, and it was only in 1786, under the reign of Joseph the second, that the first part of the civil code, comprising the law of family (persons), appeared, revised by Kees. The work of compiling the new system continued, and, whilst Haan reduced the penal code, Martini finished the project of the civil code.

When this project was completed, it was in the first place provisorily put in force in Galicia, under the reign of the emperor Francis the second. At the same time, the observations of the universities and the tribunals were collected and examined by the legislative commission; and the learned Zeiller compiled from all these documents a new project, which was submitted to the vote of the members of the aulic commission, and promulgated by the emperor, after the examination of the council of state, by a resolution bearing date July 7, 1810. The decree of publication was issued the first of July 1811, but the code was not put in force until the first of January, 1812.

The plan of this code is simple. It commences with a short introduction, in which the civil laws in general (art. 1 to 4), and the rules for the interpretation and application of the code (art. 5 to 14) are treated of. The code itself is divided into three parts. The first treats of the law relative to persons. The second treats of the law relative to things. In this part, things and their division are first considered; and, afterwards, in two separate sections, real rights and the rights of persons over things. The third part contains those provisions, which are common to the rights relative to persons and to things.

This code abrogates the common law previously in force, the first part of the civil code, published the first of November, 1786, the civil code given on trial to Galicia, as well as all the laws and usages relative to the subjects comprised in the new general code. Notwithstanding, however, the

generality of the provisions of this code, there are certain matters, which still remain subject to special laws. Such are the constitutions of the state, the fiscal laws, the feudal laws, the laws and privileges of the provincial states, and forest matters, which are still governed by the ancient laws of the country; the special laws for the army, which include private right; the laws relative to the finances and to the private rights derived therefrom; the laws concerning commercial affairs and exchange; the laws concerning the Jews, the code only containing provisions relative to marriage among persons of that nation (art. 123 to 136). Lastly, this code, though declared to be obligatory for all the hereditary Austrian states, and introduced in 1815 into the Lombard-Venetian kingdom, does not apply to the kingdom of Hungary, the national legislation of which has been preserved.

The translation of the civil code of Austria, published in Mr. Foucher's collection, is not the first which has been executed. It has been translated into Polish by Stoiovsky, and into Bohemian by Negedley; an official edition was published, in 1815, in Italian; and it was also translated into Latin in 1817. The best commentaries upon it are said to be that of Zeiller, published at Vienna, in 1811, in four volumes, which has several times been translated into Italian; and that of Mr. Scheidlen, in one volume, published at Vienna in 1833. The number of sections in the Austrian civil code is 1502.

The fifth number of Mr. Foucher's collection contains the law of civil procedure and the judiciary laws of the canton of Geneva, preceded by an introduction by Mr. Taillandier, and sundry reports of Mr. Bellot, the compiler of the code of procedure.

The ancient republic of Geneva was governed by civil edicts, which were the work of Germain Colladon, a distinguished advocate of Bruges, who retired to Geneva, at the

period of the reformation. In 1798, the republic was united to France and was subjected to the French laws. In 1814, when Geneva had again become independent, she determined to have laws and institutions of her own. The French civil code, however, the clearness and simplicity of which have been generally appreciated, was maintained in vigor, with some modifications. But the code of civil procedure was not so happy; and Mr. Tailfandier admits that it was much less worthy to obtain such a distinction. A commission was appointed to compile a new law of procedure. The principal collaborator and organ of the commission was professor Bellot, who honorably accomplished the difficult task which had been confided to him.

The law of procedure was sanctioned in September 1819. Though it was founded on the French system, it contained improvements which the most celebrated jurisconsults of Europe, and particularly of France, were struck with and hastened to acknowledge. These improvements are enumerated at some length in the introduction. One of the principal is considered to be the suppression of the preliminary obligation of conciliation, and the substitution of a voluntary system in its place, with the exception of cases between husband and wife, and between parents and children. Since the year 1814, when Geneva ceased to make a part of the French empire, the institution of the jury has been abolished. The laws of civil procedure are divided into thirty-three titles, which are subdivided into 771 articles. Besides the code of procedure, this number contains the judiciary laws of police, and sundry other laws relating to the courts, and their organization, and to the order of advocates.

It remains to say a word of the Spanish commercial code, and code of procedure, in commercial affairs and causes, which constitute the sixth number.

Before the promulgation of this commercial code, which

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