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148 ANCIENT GREECE.- [CHAP. XI.time, and amidst the revolutions in the forms of government,they could not but undergo various modifications.In the states of modern Europe, the form of the judicialinstitutions was in a great measure the result of the form ofthe feudal. In the latter there were different degrees offealty and submission ;and hence arose the principle, thatno man can he tried by any but his peers. Thus a difference in the courts was necessarily produced. The immediatevassal of the crown recognised only those for his judges, whostood in the same rank with himself, and owed fealty to thesame master. The freeman and the villain could not standbefore the same tribunal.The same principle,that a man must be tried by his peers,prevailed among the Greeks. But its application must haveproduced very different results. The community consisted ofIt discussedcitizens, who either were or claimed to be equal.all affairs relating to itself, and hence actions at law amongthe rest. Thus the common assembly performed the office ofjudges ;was laid.and the foundation of the popular courts of justiceA political notion now prevailed, a notion neveradopted in our modern constitutions that it;was essentialfor a .citizen to take a part in the administration of justice.Even in those of our modern states which in somany thingsresemble the Grecian, the German imperial cities, this ideacould never have been suggested and applied. They hadadopted the laws of an ancient nation, written in an ancientlanguage ; and to understand them, much learning was required, of which not every one could be possessed. It wasnot so in Greece. The laws were in the language of thecountry ;and although their number gradually increased,they were still accessible to all. Neither was it necessary toretain them in memory, and have them always present tothe mind. The orator during his speech, had a reader athis side with a copy of them. Whenever he referred to anylaw, it was read aloud as is;proved by a multitude of examples in Demosthenes and others.Every thing was,however, transacted orally. The judges were not obligedto peruse written documents ; they listened, and gave intheir votes.All this appears very simple, and easy to be understood.And yet the judicial institutions of Greece, if we should form