Such was feudalism in France, and its leading features are to be traced in the state of things prevalent in other European countries--in Germany, Spain, Italy, and England. The modifications it received, in each of these countries, we have not space to describe; but a brief account of the form which it took in our own land ought not to be omitted. [1] Hallam, Middle Ages. [2] Beaumanoir. [3] Du Cange, sur Joinville, Dies. 5. SECTION III. MODIFICATION OF THE SYSTEM IN ENGLAND. It was transplanted hither from Normandy, by William the Conqueror. Some customs of a feudal character existed here among our Anglo-Saxon ancestry, but they were not moulded into a system. The strong arm of William bent the English constitution into the feudal shape; but, happily, it had an elasticity as great as that of his own bow, and at length regained its wonted liberty. He took care to employ feudalism so as to make it subservient, as much as possible, to the establishment of his own authority, and so as to avoid the evils by which it beset and limited the French monarchy. In France the barons were almost independent sovereigns, and the king had but little power, save in his own immediate domains. But when William divided the broad lands of England among his followers, he innovated upon the French system. In France, it was held as a doctrine, that an oath of allegiance was due from the vassal to his immediate lord, and to no other. But William, as sagacious in the cabinet as he was valorous in the field, required that all the land-owners of England, whether sub-tenants, or tenants in chief, should swear fealty to him as their sovereign. In England, then, the vassal was not exclusively dependent on his lord; he was dependent also on his prince; hence, allegiance was divided, and consequently the barons' power was lessened. The judicial institutions of England were also different from those of France. In the latter country, the baron was the chief justice in his own province, and all were bound to submit to his authority; but in England, besides the baron's court, there were the old Saxon county courts, where the freeholders and the barons were required to assist the sheriffs in the administration of justice; and, supreme over the whole, there was the king's court, (whose judges were afterwards made itinerant,) appointed to give sentence even among the barons, and to receive appeals from the courts below; so that all judicial power was gradually drawn from the Anglo-Norman barons, and grasped by the strong hand of royalty. It is further to be observed, that the largest fiefs under the English crown, were far inferior in extent to some held under the crown of France; and that, while the latter were compact, the former were scattered through several counties. The English baronies were consequently far more feeble than those on the other side the channel, and hence our feudal monarchy under the Normans and the first Plantagenets was in a much