While it cannot be said that the constitutional development of England and of countries whose constitutions are like hers can be traced in all respects to Rome, it may be said with truth that the growth and character of their constitutions bear a strong resemblance to those of Rome, and that writers and political leaders, especially from the time of the French Revolution to our own day, have studied Roman political institutions and have applied the lessons drawn from their study to the political and constitutional questions of the day. In Rome under the Republic the people when they expressed their wish in the assembly were omnipotent, just as the decision of the English people voiced in Parliament is final. As it is in England, so in Rome the latest pronouncement of the popular will rendered null and void any previous enactment or statute in conflict with it. Rome had no formal written constitution any more than England has, but as in England such legal documents as Magna Charta, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Parliament Act of 1911 are recognised as being more fundamental than the ordinary statute, so in Rome under the Republic the Laws of the Twelve Tables, the enactment that a citizen charged with a capital offence had the right of appealing to the people, and the principle that a _lex_, or action of the popular assembly, took precedence of a decree of the senate, were so embedded in tradition that no measure could be passed in violation of the principles underlying them. Under the Empire, however, we find a document which, so far as it goes, resembles somewhat a written constitution, viz., the “Law of Vespasian conferring the imperium.”[13] In this document we have a comprehensive and systematic recital of the fundamental rights, powers, and privileges of the Emperor. As we have just seen, Rome and England have not defined the functions of the several organs of the state and their relation to one another in a single document, with which all statutes, judicial decisions, and administrative acts must conform, to be valid, as the United States, France, Switzerland and most other modern nations have done. However, the laws, precedents, and customs which direct the public life of England and directed that of Rome in a sense make up their constitutions. Constitutions of this sort, as Bryce maintains in his _Studies in History and Jurisprudence_, are flexible. They bend but do not break under the temporary blasts of popular passion or emotion. They have grown up with the people and are part of the fibre of the people. Going back, as they do, into the past, they have the mystery and the dignity which antiquity gives them. The character of the Roman and of the English constitutions reflect the character of the two peoples and their likeness to each other. They bring out the practical qualities of the two nations, their respect for the past, and their ability to adapt their institutions to new conditions. One more point