departments and functions which became necessary in society. Among
uncivilized nations there is but one profession honourable, that of
arms. All the ingenuity and vigour of the human mind are exerted in
acquiring military skill or address. The functions of peace are few and
simple, and require no particular course of education or of study as a
preparation for discharging them. This was the state of Europe during
several centuries. Every gentleman, born a soldier, scorned any other
occupation; he was taught no science but that of war; even his exercises
and pastimes were feats of martial prowess. Nor did the judicial
character, which persons of noble birth were alone entitled to assume,
demand any degree of knowledge beyond that which such untutored soldiers
possessed. To recollect a few traditionary customs which time had
confirmed, and rendered respectable; to mark out the lists of battle
with due formality; to observe the issue of the combat; and to pronounce
whether it had been conducted according to the laws of arms, included
everything that a baron, who acted as a judge, found it necessary to
understand.

But when the forms of legal proceedings were fixed, when the rules of
decision were committed to writing, and collected into a body, law
became a science, the knowledge of which required a regular course of
study, together with long attention to the practice of courts. Martial
and illiterate nobles had neither leisure nor inclination to undertake a
task so laborious, as well as so foreign from all the occupations which
they deemed entertaining, or suitable to their rank. They gradually
relinquished their places in courts of justice, where their ignorance
exposed them to contempt. They became, weary of attending to the
discussion of cases, which grew too intricate for them to comprehend.
Not only the judicial determination of points which were the subject of
controversy, but the conduct of all legal business and transactions, was