The murder by brigands, near Athens, of a party of Englishmen, including Mr. Herbert, a secretary of the British Legation, in 1870. The Greek Government were greatly blamed for the action they took in moving troops against the brigands, contrary to their express undertaking, before the required ransom, which had been provided, had been handed over to the brigands and the prisoners released. Mark System. A system of land tenure, apparently of a communistic nature, which prevailed in Germany in very early times. It seems to have been introduced into England by the Saxon invaders, and traces of it are found in the common lands. Marlborough, Statute of. A re-enactment by the Parliament of Marlborough in 1267, after the Barons’ War, of the Provisions of Oxford, with some slight changes, giving the King the power of appointing the Ministers of the Crown and the sheriffs. Maroons. The fugitive slaves in Jamaica, who, after the conquest of the island by England in 1655, took refuge in the mountains, and maintained a guerilla warfare against the colonists, which lasted until 1795. Marranos. The Spanish Moors who, after the conquest of Granada, accepted Christianity. Marriage Act. _See_ Hardwicke’s Act. Married Women’s Property Act. An Act passed in 1882, by which, in all marriages subsequent to the passing of the Act, a wife’s property is vested in herself, and is not subject to her husband’s control, as was previously the case. Martian Law. A code of British Law translated by Alfred the Great into Anglo-Saxon. It is said to have been compiled by Martia, the wife of Guithelin, great-grandson of Mulmutius, King of the Britons, in 300 B.C. Martin Mar-Prelate. The pseudonym of the author of certain pamphlets advocating Puritan doctrines, which appeared between 1588 and 1590. The suspected author, a Welshman named Penry, was brought to trial, condemned and executed. Maryland, Charter of. A charter for the colonisation of Maryland, granted to Lord Baltimore by Charles I in 1629. It was similar in its provisions to the Charter of Virginia. Masaniello, Revolt of. A revolt of the Neapolitans, under a fisherman named Tommaso Aniello, against the Spanish Viceroy in July, 1647. The revolt was completely successful, and the Viceroy was compelled to come to terms with Masaniello, whose head, however, seems to have been turned by his success, as he was guilty of the most extraordinary excesses, and was murdered by his former followers in the course of the month in which the rising took place. Mason and Dixon’s Line. The line delimiting Delaware and Maryland, drawn by Mason and Dixon in 1764-67. It is often erroneously referred to as the line between the freesoil and the slave States, but as a matter of fact both the States in question were slave-holding States. Mason and Slidell. _See_ Trent Incident. Massachusetts, Charter of.