The epoch of Customary Law, and of its custody by a privileged order, is a very remarkable one.

The ancient codes were doubtless originally suggested by the discovery and diffusion of the art of writing.

When primitive law has once been embodied in a Code, there is an end to what may be called its spontaneous development.

The Roman Code was merely an enunciation in words of the existing customs of the Roman people.

The members of such a society consider that the transgression of a religious ordinance should be punished by civil penalties, and that the violation of a civil duty exposes the delinquent to divine correction.

It is true that the aristocracies seem to have abused their monopoly of legal knowledge and at all events their exclusive possession of the law was a formidable impediment to the success of those popular movements which began to be universal in the western world.