But we must not be taken to suggest that there were no conflicts
between the teaching and the practice of the Middle Ages. As we have
seen, the economic teaching of that period was ethical, and it would
be absurd to assert that every man who lived in the Middle Ages lived
up to the high standard of ethical conduct which was proposed by the
Church.[1] One might as well say that stealing was an unknown crime
in England since the passing of the Larceny Act. All we do suggest is
that the theory had such an important and incalculable influence
upon practice that the study of it is not rendered futile or useless
because of occasional or even frequent departures from it in real
life. Even Endemann says: 'The teaching of the canon law presents a
noble edifice not less splendid in its methods than in its results.
It embraces the whole material and spiritual natures of human society
with such power and completeness that verily no room is left for
any other life than that decreed by its dogmas.'[2] 'The aim of the
Church,' says Janssen, 'in view of the tremendous agencies through
which it worked, in view of the dominion which it really exercised,
cannot have the impression of its greatness effaced by the unfortunate
fact that all was not accomplished that had been planned.'[3] The fact
that tyranny may have been exercised by some provincial governor in
an outlying island of the Roman Empire cannot close our eyes to the
benefits to be derived from a study of the code of Justinian; nor can
a remembrance of the manner in which English law is administered in
Ireland in times of excitement, blind us to the political lessons to
be learned from an examination of the British constitution.

[Footnote 1: The many devices which were resorted to in order to evade
the prohibition of usury are explained in Dr. Cunningham's _Growth
of English Industry and Commerce_, vol. i. p. 255. See also Delisle,
_L'Administration financière des Templiers_, Académie des Inscriptions