of Christianity.

of a better and more enlightened sense of right and Influence justice among the governments of Europe. [Indeed, as Laurent says, the idea of a system of International Law is due to Christianity. For how could there be any legal tie between man as an individual and men as people and nations, until the consciousness of a common nature was acknowledged, until the gulf which separated the free man from the slave was filled up, until the contempt for or hatred of the stranger as barbarian or enemy was removed, until man's nature was changed and war ceased to be regarded as a glorious pastime or as an ordinary occupation, and until an equitable system of independent states was substituted for one huge overgrown empire ever striving to draw all neighbours within its grasp and to maintain unlimited rule'?] Christianity taught the duty of benevolence to strangers, of humanity to the vanquished, of the obligation of good faith, and of the sin of murder, revenge, and rapacity. The history of Europe, during the early periods of modern history, abounds with interesting and strong cases, to shew the authority of the church over turbulent princes and fierce warriors, and the effect of that authority in meliorating manners, checking violence, and introducing a system of morals which inculcated peace, moderation and justice. The church had its councils or convocations of the clergy, which formed the nations professing Christianity into a connexion resembling a federal alliance, and those councils sometimes settled the titles and claims of princes, and regulated the temporal affairs of the Christian powers. The confederacy of the Christian nations was bound together by a sense of common duty and interest in respect to the rest of mankind. It became a general principle of belief and action, that it was not only a right, but a duty, to reduce to obedience, for the sake of conversion, every people who professed a religious faith different from their own. To make war upon infidels was, for many ages, a conspicuous part of European public law; and this gross perversion of the doctrines and spirit of Christianity, had at least one propitious effect

[1 Histoire du droit des gens, Laurent, Tome iv. livre . ch. 1; Le droit maritime, par Cauchy, Tome 1. p. 205. Sociantur gentes unitate religionis magis quam aut alterius communione aut fœderis pactione (Albericus Gentilis, De Jure Belli, 1. 3, c. 15).]

of Chris

tianity,

Influence upon the Christian powers, inasmuch as it led to the cultivation of peace and union between them, and to a more free and civilized intercourse. The notion that it was lawful to invade and subdue Mahometan and Pagan countries, continued very long to sway the minds of men; and it was not until after the age of Grotius and Bacon, that this error was entirely eradicated. Lord Coke' held, that an alliance for mutual defence was unlawful between Christians and infidels or idolaters: Grotius was very cautious as to the admission of the lawfulness of alliances with infidels, having no doubt that all Christian nations were bound to assist one another against their attacks2; Lord Bacon3 thought it a matter of so much doubt, as to propound it seriously as a question, whether a war with infidels was not first in order of dignity, and to be preferred to all other just temporal quarrels; and whether a war with infidels might not be undertaken merely for the propagation of the Christian faith, without other cause of hostility. [Whilst even so late as the commencement of last century we find the enemies of the Christian name almost classed with robbers, upon whom war might be made without special cause or without the observance of ordinary forms.]

Of Feudalism.

[The influence of Feudalism upon International Law is rather of a general than of a special nature, viz. that of its influence upon civilization and society, for to Feudalism with its tendency to localization society is indebted for its powerful development of individual character, for self-reliance, for energy in action, for an inclination towards great deeds and noble thoughts, and, above all, for the right of personal resistance which it inspired and to which the political fortunes of Europe have been so much indebted.

Nor in estimating the benefits conferred by Feudalism upon later times must we forget the part it played in breaking up the old Roman spirit of universal conquest, substituting for it distinct and various nationalities, and in introducing the Federative form of government; for

14 Inst. 155.

2 Grotius, Bk. 11. c. 15, § 11, 12.

3 Bacon's Works, Vol. I. p. 538, fol. edition, 1738, "Of an Holy War."

[ See a commission, given by the Emperor, Charles the Sixth, to two ships of war in 1718. Callender's Voyages, Vol. 1. p. 472.]

as the great writer' on this part of European history,
with truth, says,
"Feudalism as a whole was in fact a
confederation in which each separate possessor of a fief
was invested with all the rights and privileges of sove-
reignty." But while such are the general benefits it
conferred upon civilization, there are two of its character-
istic features bearing more directly upon International
Law that deserve notice, the right of private war and the
notion of territorial sovereignty. The former of these,
which became universal throughout Europe during the
height of the Feudal system, from a merely isolated
and lawless custom of, obtaining revenge for wrongs by
armed force, grew into a law marked with all the forms
and ceremonies of a settled legalized system. The latter,
though not dating immediately from Feudalism, was an
important offshoot of it, through that which was one of
its undoubted characteristics, viz. the tie between_per-
sonal duties and rights and the ownership of land. How
this Feudal notion of territorial sovereignty bears upon
modern International Law is one of those interesting
problems which have been so admirably worked out by
the author of Ancient Law, who traces the postulate,
"That sovereigns should be related to each other, like
the members of a group of Roman proprietors" (branch-
ing out as it does into the two-fold shape of the territori-
ality of sovereignty and the absolute ownership of terri-
tory implied in this term) to its Feudal source, and to
whose pages we refer the reader for a more detailed
account of this Feudal phenomenon3.

Whilst Feudalism was acting in the way thus de-
scribed upon civilization and society, all who have studied
its history, and are familiar with its peculiar institutions,
will acknowledge that much of the benefit it conferred
upon the world was counterbalanced by the exaggerated
tendency to isolated life which it inspired, and by the
overweening and dangerous importance of the Feudal
aristocracy; that society must have been injured by the
continuance of these evils is self-evident, but that their
continuance was directly adverse to the influence of law
upon the intercourse of nations is equally evident. A
corrective therefore was needed, and one was found in
1 Guizot.
2 See Ward's Law of Nations, Vol. I. ch. 11.

3 Chapter iv.

The in

Feudal

fluence of

ism.

Of the

those extraordinary movements of religious zeal which Crusades. disturbed the eleventh and twelfth centuries.-By depressing the Feudal nobility, who exhausted their resources to provide for these expeditions to the East, the emancipation of the lower orders of society was assisted; by the diminution of the number of lords, who rushed madly into them, the power of the Crown was restored; by the distress produced among the superior classes, who were compelled to barter privileges for money, many Feudal burdens were removed, and large towns grew in wealth and power; by the crowds that followed the banners of the Cross, and the wealth they took with them, maritime commerce received an immense impetus, and through commerce maritime law; and lastly, by the alliances that these expeditions produced among the different sovereigns and people of Europe, as well as by the contact of the Western with the Eastern world, the intercourse of nations with each other was immensely benefited, and the prospects of International Law greatly influenced ;] nor must we leave out of sight the decided influence of the crusades upon chivalry, which itself had a very beneficial effect upon the laws of war, for chivalry introduced declarations of war by heralds, and to attack an enemy by surprise was deemed cowardly and dishonourable. It dictated humane treatment to the vanquished, courtesy to enemies, and the virtues of fidelity, honour, and magnanimity in every species of warfare.

Of Chivalry.

Of the
Roman
Law.

The introduction and study of the civil law must also have contributed largely to more correct and liberal views of the rights and duties of nations. [How and in what direction it influenced International Jurisprudence we purpose to consider.]

[Before the fall of the Roman empire there was no necessity for International Jurisprudence; whilst the Roman domination was almost universal throughout the civilized world, whilst along the shores of the Mediterranean, then the great resort of commercial enterprise, Roman arms were supreme, and whilst nearly every seat of commerce was in Roman hands, the free progress of trade and the independent intercourse of nations were almost impossible; those who trafficked with the Romans were their vassals; those who were not vassals were in the position of allies to whom but little respect was

fluence

Roman

shewn. But after the invasion of Italy all was changed, The inand one important consequence of the disruption of the of the Roman empire into a multitude of states and nations, Law differing in manners, language, and religion, was the necessity for something like a common system of International Law. The new comers into Italy, in all probability, did not lose sight of the countries they had once inhabited, and now had left for the fertile plains of Italy, and though these backward looks were neither frequent nor strong, still they were strong enough to keep alive the relations that had once existed, and to prepare the way for international intercourse, and eventually for international regulations. But whilst the Romans had confined themselves to the Mediterranean as the arena for commercial enterprise, their northern invaders, hardy navigators and daring tempters of the perils of the deep, sought new seas and opened up new shores, extending consequently their foreign relations. In this revolutionary crisis, however, one peculiar and somewhat singular fact appeared, that the barbarian conquerors instead of overthrowing the old Roman law, and substituting for it their own laws and customs, were content to leave the conquered inhabitants of Italy in possession not only of a portion of their native soil but of their own codified law. While therefore all else was overwhelmed by the wave of barbaric immigration that poured with terrific force upon Italy, jurisprudence did not sustain the same fatal shock, remaining intact through the vitality of the Roman laws, which thus became its prop and mainstay. The Roman law then was universally received by the philosophers of the day as the expression of common sense and reason. By the lawyers it was cultivated as the source of legal wisdom, and as the training-ground of juridical science, whilst the legislators of the European world of civilization transplanted its eternal principles into the codes and systems which were being formed, and thus, though the name of Roman had fallen into contempt, and was sunk in degradation, the Roman law and its influecce passed on from generation to generation, and from land to land. It was under such circumstances that the commercial energies of the world were awakening into new life, calling into existence great and powerful towns, and introducing a continuous and enlarging intercourse of