Peculiarities of Manx Laws. departure of every guest at the office of the "Commissar" of his district; or any house holder who does not notify to that individ ual the name, address, and standing of every member of his household on first ar rival in the place, and thereafter of every guest who may pass even one night beneath his roof. Further, he must report whenever he changes his residence within the district, and will be required to state, among other things, what rent he pays for the new abode, if hired, or the price he has given, if pur chased. This latter information is utilized for the purposes of the income tax commis sioners, of whom the police president is the chief member. Even your new housemaid has to announce herself and produce her papers; and if it should be found that the departing one has omitted to report herself before leaving, she will inevitably be fol lowed to her new place by the dreaded "Strafzettel," for these offences come within the category before mentioned of those for
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which the police are empowered to impose a fine without going to a magistrate in the first instance, although there is always a right of appeal. Thus you may some morn ing be presented with one of these unpleas ant little documents, and find on inquiry that your servant has been cleaning (that is, banging) the feather-beds out of a window looking on to the street, and that your nextdoor neighbor, suffering from an inundation of fluff, has called the attention of the "Schultzmann " to the heinous transgres sion. Contrasting this kind of thing with the grave political and judicial functions discharged by the same authorities, one is inclined to compare the German police to a Nasmyth hammer, which, capable of tre mendous power, is yet adaptable to the most delicate work. With regard to the number of men em ployed, it would appear to be based on the principle of one man to each thousand of population.
PECULIARITIES OF MANX LAWS. By George H. Westley. SOME of the most interesting incidents, in Hall Caine's delightful stories of life in Man, turn upon certain very peculiar laws which exist or once existed in that quaint little island. In the following brief sketch of the Manx statutes, nothing more is at tempted than to so interest the student of comparative jurisprudence, that he may be prompted to delve for himself in this mine of instructive and amusing material. First a word upon the Manx law-makers. The legislature of Man is termed the House of Keys. This institution dates a thousand years back to the time of Orry, a prince of Denmark who invaded the island and be came its king about the year 920. The
House of Keys was originally a judicial body, its name being derived from its function of unlocking or interpreting the common stat utes; but from this it drifted into the mak ing of the laws and is now the legislature. It consists of twenty-four members elected by the people; but no laws enacted by it are valid until read, in the presence of the inhabitants, from Tynwald Hill. This read ing takes place July 5th of each year, and while there is less pomp and circumstance connected with the occasion than in former times, there is still enough to make it one of the most peculiar and archaic legal cere monies in modern Europe. There are two judges in the island, called
