(6) In 1772 Prof. Francis Stoughton Sullivan gave to the public his course of lectures previously delivered in the University of Dublin under the title _An Historical Treatise on the Feudal Law, with a Commentary on Magna Charta_. The author’s own words give a sufficiently accurate conception of its scope and value: “I shall therefore proceed briefly to speak to _Magna Charta_, and in so doing shall omit almost all that relates to the feudal tenures, which makes the greatest part of it, and confine myself to that which is now law.”[317] ----- Footnote 317: See p. 375 of the work cited. ----- (7) Mr. John Reeves’ invaluable _History of English Law_, the first edition of which appeared in 1783-84, marked the commencement of a new epoch in the scientific study of the genesis of English law. Treating incidentally of Magna Carta, he shows wonderful insight into the real purport of many of its provisions, but the state of historical knowledge when he wrote rendered many serious errors inevitable. (8) In 1829, Mr. Richard Thomson published an elaborate edition of the charters combined with a commentary which contains much useful information, but makes no serious attempt to supplement the unhistorical explanations of Sir Edward Coke by the results of more recent investigations in the provinces of law and history. His work is a storehouse of information which must, however, be used with caution. (9) In many respects, the most valuable contribution yet made to the elucidation of the Great Charter is that contained in M. Charles Bémont’s preface to his _Chartes des Libertés Anglaises_, published in 1892. Although he has subjected himself to the severe restraints imposed by the slender size of his volume and by a rigid desire to state only facts of an undisputed nature, leaving theories strictly alone; he has, nevertheless, done much to help forward the study of the charters. In particular he has performed an important service by insisting upon the close mutual connection between the various Charters of Liberties, from that of Henry I. down to the confirmations of Edward I., and of subsequent kings. It is doubtful, however, whether by this very insistence upon the gradual process of development which may be traced in this long series, he does not lay himself open to the misconception that he takes too narrow a view of the scope and relations of the Charter. Magna Carta’s points of contact with the past and future history of English liberties and English laws and institutions must not be narrowed down to those occurring in one straight line. Its antecedents must not be looked for exclusively among documents couched in the form of charters, nor its results merely in their subsequent confirmations. It is impossible to understand it aright, except in close relation to all the varied aspects of the national life and the national development. Every Act appearing on the Statute Rolls is, in a sense, an