18. THE EXTENSION OF ROMAN AND ENGLISH LAW THROUGHOUT THE WORLD ^ By James Beyce ^ /. The Regions Covered by Roman and English Law FROM a general comparison of Rome and England as powers conquering and administering territories be- yond their original limits, it is natural to pass on to con- sider one particular department of the work which territorial extension has led them to undertake, viz. their action as makers of a law which has spread far out over the world. Both nations have built up legal systems which are now — for the Roman law has survived the Roman Empire, and is full of vitality to-day — in force over immense areas that were unknown to those who laid the foundations of both sys- tems. In this respect Rome and England stand alone among nations, unless we reckon in the law of Islam which, being a part of the religion of Islam, governs Musulmans wherever Musulmans are to be found. Roman law, more or less modified by national or local family customs or land customs and by modern legislation, prevails to-day in all the European countries which formed part either of the ancient or of the mediaeval Roman Em- pire, that is to say, in Italy, in Greece and the rest of South- eastern Europe (so far as the Christian part of the popula- tion is concerned), in Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Germany (including the German and Slavonic parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy), Belgium, Holland. The
- This essay appears as the second essay in " Studies in History and
Jurisprudence," 1901, pp. 73-123 (New York: Oxford University Press, American Branch).
- A bibliographical note of this author is prefixed to essay No. 10,
ante, p. 322. 574
