French Revolution, the severity of the penal codes has been much
modified.

[Sidenote: Excellence of laws pertaining to property.]

[Sidenote: Rights of citizens.]

The penal statutes of Rome, as Gibbon emphatically remarks, "formed a
very small portion of the Code and the Pandects; and in all judicial
proceedings, the life or death of the citizen was determined with less
caution and delay than the most ordinary question of covenant or
inheritance." This was owing to the complicated relations of society, by
which obligations are created or annulled, while duties to the state are
explicit and well known, being inscribed not only on tables of brass,
but on the conscience itself. It was natural, with the growth and
development of commerce and dominion, that questions would arise which
could not be ordinarily settled by ancient customs, and the practice of
lawyers and the decisions of judges continually raised new difficulties,
to be met only by new edicts. It is a pleasing fact to record that
jurisprudence became more just and enlightened as it became more
intricate. The principles of equity were more regarded under the
emperors than in the time of Cato. It is in the application of these
principles that the laws of the Romans have obtained so high
consideration. Their abuse consisted in the expense of litigation, and
the advantages which the rich thus obtained over the poor. But if delays
and forms led to an expensive and vexatious administration of justice,
these were more than compensated by the checks which a complicated
jurisprudence gave to hasty or partial decisions. It was in the
minuteness and precision of the forms of law, and in the foresight with
which questions were anticipated in the various transactions of