it must be understood as meaning that in the Roman law is found an essential and universal element of law, which must exist in every legal system and must also be its base; and the idea of this element has been so com pletely developed in the Roman system, that the law of Rome is the theoretical and prac tical model for the laws of all peoples and all times. The evolution of this universal character is in the closest connection with the develop ment of Roman history. It has only become possible by the fact that the Roman state be came a world state, embracing the most dif ferent peoples. This universal element of the Roman law is not to be regarded as a simple union of all the different laws and a
merger of the proper Roman law. The unity and centralization in the evolution of the law was retained even more tenaciously than in the formation of the political rule. It is true that the useful elements were extracted from all laws, but only to be moulded into Roman law, to change them according to the Roman spirit and into Roman forms and then to diffuse this system over the world as specific ally Roman law. From this peculiar process of assimilation we may explain the fact, that the Roman law, in its latest and most uni versal development, has retained the spirit and form of its fundamental character and shows all the traces of its ancient institu tions.
THE ROYAL ASSENT. THE sittings of both Houses were tempo rarily suspended in order to allow time for a Queen 's messinger to proceed to Osborn to ob~ tain the Royal Assent to the Appropriation Bill. Her Majesty's assent was telegraphed to West minster, and at the re-assembling of the Houses the Queen's Speech was read, and Parliament prorogued with die usual formalities.
Such is an announcement which appeared in the English daily papers at the close of a recent session of Parliament; and to those who are unacquainted with British parliamen tary procedure, a few words in reference to the practice that prevails regarding the assent of the monarch may be of interest. In the first place, every bill, whether it be a public or a private one, that has passed through all its stages in both Houses must, before it can become a law, receive the Queen's assent. Prior to the reign of Henry VIII. this assent had to be given in person; but by an act passed in that king's reign,
enabling the assent to be given by Commis sion, signed by the royal hand, this necessity was dispensed with. When the assent is given in person, the Clerk of the Parliament waits upon Queen Victoria in the robingroom before she enters the House of Lords, reads a list of proposed statutes, and receives her commands upon them. When Her Ma jesty is seated upon the throne, the Clerk of the Crown reads the title of each bill; the Clerk of the Parliaments, if it be a public statute, then signifies the royal assent in Norman- French as follows: "La Rcyne k vcnlt." (The Queen wills it so to be.) If the bill be a private one, the form of assent is, " Soit fait comme il est désiré." (Be it as it is desired.) When, however, a bill of supply is passed, the assent is expressed thus : " La Rcyne remercie ses èons sujets, accepte leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult." (The Queen thanks her loyal subjects, ac cepts their benevolence, and wills it so to be.)
