With these caveats, however, the three systems may be regarded, in some measure, as following one another in the order named:—popular justice, feudal justice, royal justice. II. _Legal Procedure._ The procedure adopted in litigation in Anglo-Saxon and Norman times was similar in essentials in all three classes of tribunals, and differed materially from the practice of courts of law at the present day. Some knowledge of the more glaring contrasts between ancient and modern procedure may here be profitably discussed, not only on account of the interest inherent in the subject, but also because it will conduce to an understanding of several otherwise obscure provisions of Magna Carta. Avoiding technical language, and eliminating special procedure peculiar to any one court or country, the principal stages in a normal litigation in a modern court of law may be given briefly as follows: (1) On the complaint of the party aggrieved—the plaintiff—a summons, or writ, is issued by an officer of the court. Proceedings are opened by the command addressed to the defendant to appear in court and answer what is alleged against him. (2) Each party lodges written statements of his facts and pleas—that is, of the circumstances of the case as they appear to him (or such of them as he hopes to bring evidence to prove)—on which he founds his claim or his defence, and of the legal principles he intends to deduce from these circumstances. When these statements of facts and pleas have been revised and adjusted, the complete data are now before the court; each party has finally stated what he considers essential to his case. (3) Proof is, in due course, led; that is, each party is afforded an opportunity of proving such facts as he has alleged (and as require proof through the denial of his opponent). This he may do by documents, witnesses, or otherwise. Each party has the further privilege of shaking his opponent’s evidence by cross-examination. (4) The next important stage is the debate, the main object of which is to establish by legal arguments the pleas founded on; to deduce the legal consequences inherent in the facts which have been proved. (5) Finally, the judge gives his decision. He has to determine, after weighing the evidence led by either party, what facts have really been established, and how far the various pleas of plaintiff and defendant respectively are implied in these facts. A considerable amount of thought and reasoning of such a kind as can be successfully performed only by a highly trained legal mind is thus necessary before the final decree or sentence can be pronounced by a judge in a modern court of law.