Rome have contributed in nearly equal proportions to the theosophy
of the Hebrews. The jurisprudence of all Christian nations is mainly
referable to Rome for its origin, and the same is the case with at
least the Sunnite Mahometans. The nations of Islam took only their
religious creed from their Prophet; the jurists of Kufah retained and
expounded the civil law which prevailed among them before his time.
That law was the law of the Greek Empire, developed in the same way as
that of the Western Empire under the judicial and legislative auspices
of Roman Prætors and Pro-Consuls, aided by Roman jurists. Theophilus,
one of the jurists employed by Justinian for his compilations,
lectured in Greek on the Institutions; and the substance of
his lectures still survives under the name of the Paraphrase of
Theophilus. The Greek edicts and novels of Justinian's successors are
mainly Roman law. Throughout the Byzantine Empire (within which Kufah
and the region where Bagdad now stands were included) Roman law was
paramount, and Roman jurists were numerous. The arrangement, the
subdivisions, and the substance of Mahometan jurisprudence, show
that it has been principally derived from this source. Some of its
doctrines are doubtless aboriginal engrafted on the law of the
Empire; and it has been modified in some respects to reconcile it to
the religious dictates of Islam, just as the law of Pagan Rome was
modified after Christianity became the religion of the Empire. But
still Mahometan jurisprudence retains undeniably the lineaments of its
parentage.

This consideration places in a strong light the importance of the
study of Mahometan law. The increasing intimacy of our relations with
independent Mahometan states makes it of the utmost consequence that
we should entertain correct views of their opinions and institutions;
and no better key to the knowledge of both can be found than in the