testate and testate succession, and regard the title of the heir, his interest in, his acceptance or renunciation of the succession, the mode in which it may be made, the annus deliberandi, the benefit of inventory, the separation of the ancestor's estate from that of the heir, collation, and the appointment of testamentary executors.

There is a great conflict between the several codes of jurisprudence which this Work comprises, in their manner of dealing with these various subjects. It frequently becomes essential to the justice of the judicial decision, that it should be founded on a selection of one of these

conflicting laws. The principles on which the selection should be made constitute an important branch of jurisprudence. It forms a part of this work. The statement of those principles follows the summary of the laws, whenever an occasion for their application is afforded either by any discrepancy in those laws, or by the nature of the subject on which there exists the discrepancy.

This branch of jurisprudence does not appear to have excited the interest of English lawyers. The doctrines held in Scotland for so long a period on the law by which the succession to an intestate's moveables should be regulated, shew how little it engaged the attention of the jurists of that country.

Its discussion was to be found only in the writings of

continental jurists, until Mr. Justice Story bestowed on it the learning and research for which he is so eminently distinguished. His Treatise on the conflict of laws, foreign and domestic, is cited by English judges with the high commendation it so justly merits, and international jurisprudence is largely indebted to him. If it had been part of the plan of his work to have entered into a detailed account of the various systems of jurisprudence, he would have more fully developed, and rendered more obvious the application of the principles by which a judicial tribunal should be governed in the selection of one of the several conflicting laws.

I am too well aware of the extent and variety of the subjects embraced by this Work to anticipate that I shall have afforded satisfaction upon all of them, but at least I may hope that I have facilitated the means by which such satisfaction may be obtained from other

sources.

Your Lordship may recollect, that in the progress of this Work I communicated to you the plan I proposed, and the object I sought to accomplish. You then expressed your opinion of its utility; I felt therefore desirous of dedicating to your Lordship the result of labours which your opinion encouraged me to prosecute.

I was gratified too by the opportunity thus afforded me of evincing my high esteem and respect for your

character, and of expressing my cordial participation in the satisfaction with which the public and the profession regard your elevation to the Bench.

I have the honor to be,

My Lord,

Your Lordship's

Very obedient and humble Servant,

WILLIAM BURGE.

Lincoln's Inn,

Oct. 1837.

PRELIMINARY TREATISE

ON THE

SYSTEMS OF JURISPRUDENCE PREVAILING IN THE

BRITISH COLONIES, &c.

AND

ON APPEALS TO THE KING IN COUNCIL.

I. The present jurisprudence of Demerara, Berbice, the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, St. Lucia, Lower Canada, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Mauritius.-The Civil Law, the Roman Dutch Law, the Law of Spain, the Coutumes of Paris and Normandy and the Code Civil.-The Civil Law, the great source from whence these systems of jurisprudence are derived. Its authority in the law of Scotland.-There is no distinct and separate court under these systems of jurisprudence, for the administration of equity as distinguished from law. The several courts in these possessions of original jurisdiction whose sentences, &c. are subjects of appeal to the King in council.-The courts take cognizance of, and decide on the facts as well as the law of the questions submitted for their adjudication.—Exception in certain cases in the law of Lower Canada.

II. The Colonial possessions in which the jurisprudence is composed of the common law and statutes of England, and the enactments of their own legislatures.-Those which became part of the British Empire before 1763.-The distinction between possessions settled, and colonies acquired by conquest.-Jamaica with reference to this distinction was a settled and not a conquered colony.-What part of the law of England in force.-The Jamaica Act 1 Geo. 2, c. 1, comprises statutes subsequent to the settlement.-Qualification of the doctrine, that statutes made before the settlement are part of its law. In some of the Colonies, statutes passed since, as well as before their settlement, have been expressly enacted by acts of their

legislatures.-Colonial possessions acquired by conquest, capitulation or treaty. The proclamations in 1763, and their effects. These possessions became entitled to the common and statute law of England. Distinct courts for the administration of law and equity.— Chancellor.-Ordinary.-Court of common law.

III. Gibraltar, Honduras, Sierra Leone, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Western Australia, Southern Australia, Charters of Justice. IV. The colonies in which there is an intermediate appeal before that to the King in council.-The court of errors.-The King's instructions.— The subjects of its jurisdiction.-Restriction in respect of the amount of the matter in dispute.

V. Possessions in which the appeal to the King in council is direct.-Appeals from the Courts of Error, Courts of Chancery, and ordinary.— Probable origin of appeals to the King in council.-King's instructions to the governors to allow appeals.-Forty-seventh and fortyeighth instructions.-Construction and effect of the instructions.— In the colonies acquired in 1763, an appeal from the Court of Chancery does not suspend execution of the sentence.-Time within which the appeal must be prayed in the colony, or lodged in the council office. The judicial committee of the Privy Council.-Takes notice of the law of the colony from which the appeal.-In what cases it entertains and decides on objections, not taken in the court below.The admission of evidence.-Costs.-Rehearing.

I. THE possessions of Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo, which are now united under one government by the description of British Guiana, (a) the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Trinidad, St. Lucia, Lower Canada, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Mauritius have been allowed to retain the laws which they enjoyed at the periods when they became annexed to the British crown.

The law of British Guiana, the Cape of Good Hope, and Ceylon was the Roman Dutch law, Rooms Hollands-Regt. That of Trinidad was the law of Spain. In St. Lucia and Lower Canada the coutume of Paris was in force, and in Guernsey and Jersey the coutume of Normandy. In the Mauritius the Code Civil had been established.

(a) Commission to Sir Benjamin D'Urban as governor, dated March 4th, 1831.