not a few of his opinions on some of these intricate subjects, which would bear a close rivalry with the best in Westminster Hall in our own times. There are some, which any judge might be proud to number among those destined to secure his own immortality.

His

'But we must stop. The time for mourning over such a loss cannot soon pass away. We have lost a great magistrate, and an excellent citizen. Vain is the voice of sorrow, and vainer still the voice of eulogy. They cannot recal the past. place cannot be easily supplied; for it is difficult to combine so many valuable qualities in a single character: To sum up his in one sentence, we may say, that, as a judge, he was eminent for sagacity, acuteness, wisdom, impartiality, and dignity; as a citizen, for public spirit, and elevated consistency of conduct; as a man, for generosity, gentleness, and moral purity. His fame must rest, where it is fit it should, upon the printed reports of his own decisions. These will go down to future ages; and though, perhaps, beyond the circle of the profession, they may not attract much general observation, (for the misfortune of the profession is, that great judges and great lawyers cannot enjoy a wide-spread popular favor,) they will yet be read and honored by the jurists of succeeding times, with undiminished reverence, when those of us, who have known and loved him, shall be mingled with the dust that now gathers round his remains. They will often recal to the classical reader, the beautiful eulogy of Cicero, upon a great character of antiquity so applicable to his. Erat in verborum splendore elegans, compositione aptus, facultate copiosus; eaque erat cum summo ingenio, tum exercitationibus maximis consecutus; rem complectebatur memoriter, dividebat acute, nec praetermittebat fere quidquam quod esset in causâ, aut ad confirmandum aut ad refellendum.'

The following biographical notice of Chief Justice Parker, is from an appendix to the Rev. Mr. Palfrey's sermon, on the occasion of the decease of the Chief Justice.

'Judge Parker's family are understood to have been settled, at an early period, on Parker's Island, in Maine. His father, Daniel, a native of Charlestown, married Margaret Jarvis, of Boston, and had many children.

Either before Judge Parker was matriculated at College, or

soon after, his father, finding himself unable to meet the expenses of his education there, proposed to apprentice him to the druggist's business, with the late Dr. Ephraim Elliot. This fact coming through Rev. Dr. Elliot, to the knowledge of some opulent gentlemen, who were acquainted with the promise which he had exhibited at school, they interfered on the day of his entrance on his new occupation, and made arrangements for the original intention to be pursued. The circumstance deserves to be here recorded, as illustrative of the state of feeling, long ago, and still, existing in our leading citizens, in relation to our public schools, and to the claims of those who there manifest the elements of a capacity to do the state some service.' Examples of this kind are so frequent, that it can scarcely be said to be in the course of things with us, for a boy, who at these institutions, developes uncommon talent, to lose, for want of pecuniary resources, the advantages of the best education which the country affords. Instances, among which what is here noticed is undoubtedly a most prominent one, of the blessing of Providence on such a judicious public spirit, are what have aided hitherto to keep it alive. As long as it continues the honorable characteristic which it is, of the habits of our community, may it continue to be so rewarded. Such services as this publication commemorates, and the good sense and feeling which, in the way now mentioned, have been instrumental in causing them to be rendered, each do a noble part in the promotion of the common good, and are worthy to be called to mind together.

'The class of 1786, of which the subject of this notice was a leading scholar, has been one of the most distinguished in the annals of the University. Among other names well known to the public, we find those of Timothy Bigelow, many years speaker of the house of representatives of Massachusetts; Alden Bradford, lately secretary of the commonwealth; Dr. Harris, late president of Columbia College, N. Y.; John Lowell; and Champlin and Thompson, U. S. senators for Rhode Island and New Hampshire..

'While a trustee of Bowdoin College, Judge Parker, in addition to the usual duties of the place, devoted much time to the sale of lands granted by the general court for the endowment of that institution, and to other arrangements for the benefit of its finances; and his exertions at that period are understood

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to have been of the first importance, in laying a foundation for its now extended usefulness and reputation.

'Between his sense of duty to his family and to the public, his acceptance of the office of judge, when in the receipt of a much larger income at the bar, was a subject of very anxious deliberation to him, and his friends represent him as never having appeared to them otherwise than habitually cheerful and happy, except at this juncture. It was a step much urged by judges Sedgwick and Sewall, and by the leading jurists of Boston and of other parts of the state. Subsequently he had almost made up his mind, at one time, to resign the office, and there is a very interesting letter of Judge Parsons, dissuading him on the ground of the worth of his services to the science and the community, and the obligation upon men like him to postpone private considerations to the public benefit. The writer knew the mind which he was addressing.

'In the Massachusetts convention of 1820, Judge Parker frequently took a part in debates in committee of the whole. His speeches, on the constitution of the university, of the senate, and the executive council, and on other important subjects, are referred to in the index to the journal of that convention.

'His critical taste was put in exercise for the preparation of the volume of posthumous sermons, by his friend Mr. Buckminster, which has enjoyed such high estimation, at home and abroad. Judge Parker and the late Hon. Samuel Dexter, with the assistance of Mr. George (now professor) Ticknor, made in the first place a large selection from the manuscripts, from which were afterwards chosen by the Rev. Messrs. Channing and Thacher, those which were given to the press.

'Judge Parker, after waking early, as was his habit, on the morning of July 25th, conversed some minutes, apparently in his usual health. Being observed, after a little time, to articulate less distinctly, he said that he felt a headache, but should be better after rising On attempting to rise, he found his limbs partially paralyzed, but was still able to maintain some conversation. On the arrival of Dr. Warren, in twenty minutes after he was seized, he manifested his satisfaction, but did not afterwards speak. Copious bleeding in one arm, and other strong remedies were resorted to, without the slightest good effect. Dr. Warren remained with him three hours, and again attended

in consultation with Dr. Bigelow; but it was plain to the medical gentlemen, that the case had been a hopeless one from the first.

'While resident at Castine, Judge Parker was married to Rebecca Hall, sister of the present Judge of Probate for Suffolk. He was bereaved of three children; two sons in early childhood; and six years ago, a daughter, Margaret Jarvis, whose loss was a keen affliction. Five survive.

In the 2d volume of Massachusetts Reports, is a list of judges of the Supreme Court since William and Mary's charter. It appears that four, viz. Samuel Sewall, from 1695 to 1726; Benjamin Lynde, 1712-45; Paul Dudley, 1718—50, and Benjamin Lynde, 1745—1771, have been judges a longer time; but no chief justice has had so long a term of service.'

ART. II.-WRITTEN AND UNWRITTEN SYSTEMS OF LAWS.

De la Codification en general, et de celle de l'Angleterre en particulier en une série de lettres addressées à M. C. P. Cooper, Avocat Anglais, par J. D. MEYER, Chevalier de l'ordre Royal du Lion Belgique, &c. &c. Amsterdam. 1830. THERE has been carried on, among the jurisconsults of Europe, and more particularly of Germany, for several years, a very animated controversy on the comparative value of a written and unwritten system of law. It commenced, with great bitterness and acrimony, immediately after the expulsion of the French from Germany, and has continued, with some abatement of heat and passion, but yet with great earnestness and zeal, to the present time. In the year 1814, and when the last of the French eagles had scarcely passed the Rhine, a pamphlet was published by M. Thiebaut, a professor at Heidelburg, in which he urged upon his countrymen the importance and necessity of substituting a written and uniform code of laws for all the Germanic states, in the place of the miscellaneous and disjointed system of the civil, canon, and customary law, by which they are now governed. In a country, abounding, like Germany, with men of letters, whose industry annually sends forth into the world.

thousands of new works, on every variety of subjects, among whom all questions of politics, philosophy, and criticism, are discussed with a zeal and devotion that seem never to tire or be satiated, it is not to be supposed that so bold a proposition as that of a reform of the whole body of the existing laws of the country, would fail to excite a very lively sensation; nor could M. Thiebaut expect long to remain without an antagonist.

This antagonist he found in M. De Savigny, a civilian of profound learning and great celebrity. He replied in a pamphlet, written with great warmth and animation, to which he gave the title of The vocation of the present age to legislation and jurisprudence.' This response kindled the spirits of the Germans into a flame. The jurisconsults ranged themselves into parties, and the war of pamphlets and periodicals commenced. While many civilians of liberal minds and of a philosophical cast of thought, united with M. Thiebaut in demanding a digest of the laws sanctioned by legislative authority. Others, and these constituting the greater number, with whom a veneration for antiquity and an attachment to their national customs, constituted a sort of religion, were not a little scandalized at a proposition which went to revolutionize their most fixed and cherished notions in government and jurisprudence, and which, if adopted, would render, in a great measure, useless, at least would greatly reduce, the dignity and value of their favorite studies. The universities in particular, where the doctrines of the historical school already prevailed, in which law was taught in connexion with the antiquities of the Roman Republic, and semi-barbarous legislation of the middle ages, and the decision of delicate points of jurisprudence made to depend on profound literary and antiquarian criticism, were quick to take the alarm at so bold an innovation, an innovation which would render the profound erudition of their professions, for all the purposes of practical jurisprudence, useless and cumbersome lumber. The party opposed to this reformation of the law was further reinforced by all those who, in the fervor of their recent liberation from French power, considered that to be most national and patriotic, which was most at variance with usages and habits of their late masters. With these it was a sufficient reason for opposing the project of a written code of law, that it would appear to be treading in the footsteps of the French.