| PAGE | |
| Bible Law. By S. Burgess, M.A. | [1] |
| Sanctuaries. By William E. A. Axon, F.R.S.L. | [13] |
| Trials in Superstitious Ages. By Ernest H. Rann | [23] |
| On Symbols. By George Neilson | [43] |
| Law Under the Feudal System. By Cuming Walters | [58] |
| The Manor and Manor Law. By England Howlett | [83] |
| Ancient Tenures. By England Howlett | [95] |
| Laws of the Forest. By Edward Peacock, F.S.A. | [109] |
| Trial by Jury in Old Times. By Thomas Frost | [122] |
| Barbarous Punishments. By Sidney W. Clarke | [132] |
| Trials of Animals. By Thomas Frost | [149] |
| Devices of the Sixteenth Century Debtors. By James C. Macdonald, F.S.A., Scot. | [161] |
| Laws Relating To the Gipsies. By William E. A. Axon, F.R.S.L. | [165] |
| Commonwealth Law and Lawyers. By Edward Peacock F.S.A. | [179] |
| Cock-Fighting in Scotland. | [197] |
| Cockieleerie Law. By Robert Bird | [200] |
| Fatal Links. By Ernest H. Rann | [205] |
| Post-Mortem Trials. By George Neilson | [224] |
| Island Laws. By Cuming Walters | [237] |
| The Little Inns of Court. | [258] |
| Obiter. By George Neilson | [267] |
| Index | [277] |
LEGAL LORE.
Bible Law.
By S. BURGESS, m.a.
At the very outset of any treatment of so delicate a subject as that indicated by the title of this chapter, we are met by no small difficulty. This consists in the danger of committing unintentional errors of irreverence, and thus offending the prejudices of those who are more or less pledged to their belief in the verbal inspiration of every Bible chapter and verse. With this risk before us, we can only trust to our own sense of a rational view of a subject so full of capabilities of misconstruction. Those of us who can remember the outburst of righteous indignation at the publication of the “Essays and Reviews” and of “Ecce Homo,” feel surprise at the quiet indifference with which views expressed in them are now received. This does not at all, or necessarily, mean that men’s faith is colder, or that the spirit of reverent religious feelings has died away. The advance of accurate scientific investigation may have upset the faith of some, and given a subject for outbursts of intolerant pulpit denunciations, but we must think that there are signs plainly discernible of a quiet acceptation of modern discovery by the majority of thoughtful and devout believers in the inspiration of Holy Scripture. These remarks will be found not unneedful as we pursue the examination of this particular branch of Biblical study, namely, the Law as it is found in the Bible, and this will be seen at once when it is laid down as an absolutely necessary condition of our investigation that this same Law can plainly be divided into two distinct portions—that which is of Divine, and that which is of human origin. The bare statement of this fact will offend certain prejudices. The Divine “Fiat” stamps with as marvellous and undoubted clearness, certain portions, as other parts are marked by the progress of human intelligence, the needs of human society, and the force of the human will.
The very fact of the existence of Law entails the necessity of Penalty, and this may be spiritual or corporal. The former depends on the acknowledgment of the rule over us of a Superior Being. The latter is a necessary accompaniment of all and every human life, believing or unbelieving. So in the Bible Law we can easily distinguish between the penalty affixed to the breaking of the first of the Ten Commandments, and that which followed on the breaking of the sixth. On the authority of Hebrew scholars, we are told that the use of the Hebrew Article shows that The Law refers to the expressed will of God. If this rule be invariable, it would be of great value, and especially so in the use of the Greek Article.
The writers of the Psalms gave forth an intense reflection of the old Law; always presuming, as they of course did, that it emanated from the Deity.
Now let us be allowed to start with the assumption that the Mosaic is the earliest form of tabulated Law. A most excellent book has just been published, “The History of Babylonia,” by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It is a cheap little book, but full of information upon which one feels able to rely. We find there that the Moral Law of Babylonia represents the spirit of Bible Law so accurately that it would be absurd to set up any theory of an independent basis.