That the development of the legal system is dependent upon the first of these phenomena--that is, upon political organization--is directly apparent from the fact that the administration of justice in general presupposes two sources of authority. Here again the beginnings are to be found in the totemic age. During this period, the administration of justice was vested, in the first place, in a relatively restricted group of the older and experienced men, such as exercised authority over the older members of the horde even in pretotemic times. Judicial powers were assumed, in the second place, by individual leaders in the chase or in war. The authority of the latter, it is true, was temporary, frequently shifting with changing circumstances; it was all the more effective, however, for the very reason that it was centred in single individuals. Now, the initial step in the formation of a legal system--which, as already remarked, was at first concerned merely with what we would call civil justice--was taken when the quarrels of individuals came to be settled in the same way as were matters of common concern to the clan or tribe--namely, by the decisions of the two long-established authorities, the 'council of elders,' as they later continued to be called among many civilized peoples, and the individual leader or chieftain. Even in relatively primitive times, fellow-tribesmen or clansmen who disagreed as to the ownership of an object or perhaps as to whether or not some mutual agreement had been kept, and who preferred a peaceful decision to settlement by combat, were accustomed to seek the decision of the elders or of a man of commanding respect. Thus, these initial stages of legal procedure indicate that the earliest judge was an _arbitrator_; he was freely selected by the disputants, though he constantly became more firmly established in his position as a result both of his authority in the general affairs of the tribe and of tradition. We next find the _appointed_ judge, who owes his office to political authority, and who decides particular controversies, not because he has been asked to do so by the parties themselves but 'of right' and as commissioned by the State; supported as he is by the political power, his decision has compelling force. As soon as the State assumes the function of deciding the controversies of individuals, the judge becomes an _official_. Indeed, he is one of the first representatives of officialdom. For, in the early stages of political organization, all matters other than the quarrels of individuals are regulated by ancient customs, except in so far as war and the preparation for war involve conditions that necessarily place authority of an entirely different sort in the hands of particular individuals. Thus, together with the offices of those who, though only gradually, come to have charge of the maintenance of the military organization even in times of peace, the office of the