considered innocent until his guilt was proved. In short, every thing
pertaining to property and contracts and wills is guarded with the most
zealous care. A man was sure of possessing his own, and of transmitting
it to his children. No infringement on personal rights could be
tolerated. A citizen was free to go where he pleased, to do whatsoever
he would, if he did not trespass on the rights of another; to seek his
pleasure unobstructed, and pursue his business without vexatious
incumbrances. If he was injured or cheated, he was sure of redress. Nor
could he be easily defrauded with the sanction of the laws. A rigorous
police guarded his person, his house, and his property. He was supreme
and uncontrolled within his family. And this security to property and
life and personal rights was guaranteed by the greatest tyrants. The
fullest personal liberty was enjoyed under the emperors, and it was
under their sanction that jurisprudence, in some of the most important
departments of life, reached perfection. If injustice was suffered, it
was not on account of the laws, but the depravity of men, the venality
of the rich, and the tricks of lawyers. But the laws were wise and
equal. The civil jurisprudence could be copied with safety by the most
enlightened of European states. And, indeed, it is the foundation of
their civil codes, especially in France and Germany.

[Sidenote: Abuse of paternal power.]

That there were some features in the Roman laws which we, in these
Christian times, cannot indorse, and which we reprehend, cannot be
denied. Under the republic, there was not sufficient limit to paternal
power, and the _paterfamilias_ was necessarily a tyrant. It was
unjust that the father should control the property of his son, and cruel
that he was allowed such absolute control, not only over his children,
but his wife. But the limits of paternal power were more and more