When the French ruled Belgium, before the Fall of the Empire, early in the nineteenth century, they introduced the Napoleonic Code--a system of laws partially observed in the kingdom today. The _Codes Belges_ also comprise sundry ancient laws of the original nine provinces. The Court of Cassation, the highest court in the land, has but one judge. It is his duty to examine every judgment passed by lower courts, and to determine whether or not it shall be annulled. The Courts of Appeal are three, and their judges are appointed by the King for life. Civil suits are commenced in the Courts of First Instance, which are supplemented by Tribunals of Commerce, held in Antwerp, Ghent, and other cities, to decide disputes that arise between persons having business relations. The equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon Criminal and Police Courts are the courts of Assizes and Justice of the Peace. Trial by a jury of twelve men is required by law. Capital punishment is provided for those found guilty of murder, but, though sentenced formally to death, the prisoner is actually consigned to live out his span of years in solitary confinement in the great prison at Louvain. The kingdom of Belgium is divided into nine provinces--Antwerp, Brabant, West Flanders, East Flanders, Hainaut, Liège, Limburg, Namur, and Luxemburg (not to be confused with the adjoining political state of the same name). Each province is subdivided into cantons and communes, presided over by a governor nominated by the King. The children of Belgian subjects are educated at the expense of the State, unless their parents are able to pay a modest fee. The Minister of Instruction regularly receives reports from inspectors who make a tour of all the schools in each province, and, in the grammar schools, the Government has the right to name the teaching staff. State universities are maintained at Ghent and Liège; at Brussels and Louvain there are institutions that afford free instruction in advanced subjects and in law and medicine. There are also many schools that are maintained by the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. As a result of compulsory education laws, about ninety per cent. of the population are able to read and write. WRITTEN FOR THE MENTOR BY RUTH KEDZIE WOOD ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 8, No. 3, SERIAL No. 199 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION. INC. [Illustration: FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BEFORE THE BOMBARDMENT OF AUGUST 1914 COPYRIGHT, UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD THE VILLAGE OF DINANT-ON-THE-MEUSE] _BELGIUM_ _The Walloons and the Flemings_ THREE