in London and Cambridge. In 1606 it was "done into English" by Richard Knolles, with so much spirit and taste that the translation was considered superior to either the French or Latin original.

The leading principle of this work, so celebrated in its time and now so little known, is, that "a state is a collection of families, which, in accordance with the maxims of justice, transact their common affairs by a common head." This common head he supposed to unite the legislative and executive powers, and to be indivisible. He distinguished between monarchy and despotism, by the justice or injustice of the common head; and made the lawfulness of the government to depend entirely upon the justice with which it was administered.

"He appears to have been one of the first," says Dugald Stewart, "that united a philosophical turn of thinking with an extensive knowledge of jurisprudence and of history." "In his views of the philosophy of law, he has approached very nearly to some leading ideas of Lord Bacon; while, in his refined combinations of historical facts, he has more than once struck into a train of speculation, bearing a strong resemblance to that afterwards pursued by Montesquieu. Of this resemblance so remarkable an instance occurs in his chapter on the moral effects of climate, and on the attention due to this circumstance by the legislator, that it has repeatedly subjected the author of The Spirit of Laws' (but in my opinion without any good reason) to the imputation of plagiarism. A resemblance to Montesquieu, still more honorable to Bodin, may be traced in their com

mon attachment to religious as well as civil liberty. To have caught, in the sixteenth century, somewhat of the philosophical spirit of the eighteenth, reflects less credit on the force of his mind, than to have imbibed in the midst of the theological controversies of his age, those lessons of mutual forbearance and charity, which a long and sad experience of the fatal effects of persecution has, to this day, so imperfectly taught to the most enlightened nations of Europe."

Bayle pronounces him an exact and judicious writer, of great genius, of vast knowledge, and of wonderful memory and reading; and in the opinion of La Harpe, his Treatise of the Republic was "the germ of The Spirit of Laws."" A writer who thus anticipated Bacon and Montesquieu was no ordinary man.

July 24, 1824.

BANKRUPT LAWS.

No. I.

AMONG the concerns to which the attention of Congress will be called the present session, there is no one more important than that of " establishing uniform laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." The power of enacting such laws was expressly given by the constitution; and of course the exercise of this power was contemplated by the framers of the government. There appears to be some diversity of opinion respecting the general policy of such laws, and still more concerning the particular provisions which they ought to contain. We shall take some occasion hereafter to discuss the general question; and we think it can be made apparent that a uniform system of bankrupt laws, under proper regulations, would tend even more to the security of the creditor, than to the relief of the debtor. It is our design at present to make a brief sketch of the origin, progress, and present state of the English Bankrupt Law; the successive alterations and amendments of which may furnish some useful hints for the consideration of the subject in this country.

The first Bankrupt Law was passed in 1542 in the 35th year of Henry the Eighth. It is entitled, "An act against such persons as do make bankrupt," and has the following remarkable preamble, showing conclusively that the security of the creditor was its only object: "Whereas divers and sundry persons, craftily obtaining into their hands great substance of other men's goods, do suddenly flee to parts unknown, or keep their houses, not minding to pay or restore to any their creditors, their dues, but at their own will and pleasure consume debts and the substance obtained by credit of other men, for their own pleasure and delicate living, against all reason, equity, and good conscience; it is enacted," &c. By this statute, a court of commissioners was erected, consisting of the Lord Chancellor, and the two Chief Justices, with whom several of the great officers of state were associated, who had power, upon the complaint in writing of any party grieved, to make such orders respecting the person and property of such debtor, as to them should seem expedient; to cause his lands and goods to be sold, and the proceeds to be divided rateably among his creditors; and to call before them and examine upon oath all such persons as were suspected of having or concealing any part of the debtor's property. It was also enacted, that if any person concealed any part of the debtor's effects, he should forfeit double the value of the property concealed; that if any person made a false claim before the commissioners, he should forfeit double the amount of his claim; and that if any person colluded with the debtor to have a false claim allowed, he should forfeit all his goods and chat

tels; the several forfeitures to be employed by the commissioners in the payment of the bankrupt's debts. By this statute only two acts of bankruptcy are specified, that of fleeing to parts unknown, and that of keeping house, not minding to pay his creditors. Until one of these acts was done by the debtor, the commissioners had no authority to proceed according to the statute. And it is expressly pro

vided that the creditors shall not be barred of their debts, excepting so far as they are actually paid by the effects of the debtor. It is worthy of remark, that both in this and the two next statutes on the same subject, the bankrupt is uniformly considered a criminal, and is usually designated as the offender; "the goods of such offender shall be taken by the commissioners," &c. Lord Coke somewhere remarks, that we have fetched as well the name as the wickedness of bankrupts from foreign nations; and he adds, that no act of parliament was made against any English bankrupt, until the 34th year of Henry the Eighth, when the English merchant had rioted in three kinds of costlinesses, namely, costly building, costly diet, and costly apparel.

This act continued unaltered for twenty-eight years; and we have nothing in the books to show how it was executed, or what construction was put upon it.

In 1570, the 13th of Elizabeth, an act was passed for "the repression" of bankrupts, and "for a plain declaration who is and ought to be deemed a bankrupt." This statute confines the operation of the law to merchants and traders; and enumerating several additional acts of bankruptcy, such as beginning to keep house, or departing from