to perpetuate more of the
old than is at the time supposed and, in the second place, that unless
it is connected vitally with the old, the chances of its achieving
stability or permanence are inconsiderable. In Germany, for example,
if the institutions of the Empire were essentially new in 1871, the
governmental systems of the several federated states, and of the towns
and local districts, exhibited numerous elements which in origin were
mediaeval. In France, if central institutions, and even the political
arrangements of the department and of the arrondissement, do not
antedate the Revolution, the commune, in which the everyday political
activity of the average citizen runs its course, stands essentially as
it was in the age of Louis XIV.

If the element of continuity is thus important in the political system
of Germany, France, or Switzerland, in that of England it is
fundamental. It is not too much to say that the most striking aspect
of English constitutional history is the continual preservation, in
the teeth of inevitable changes, of a preponderating proportion of
institutions that reach far into the past. "The great difficulty which
presses on the student of the English constitution, regarded as a set
of legal rules," observes a learned commentator, "is that he can never
dissociate himself from history. There is hardly a rule which has not
a long past, or which can be understood without some consideration of
the circumstances under which it first came into being."[1] It is the
purpose of the present volume to describe European governments as they
to-day exist and operate. It will be necessary in all cases, however,
to accord some consideration to the origins and growth of the
political organs and practices which may be described. In respect to
Great Britain this can mean nothing less than a survey, brief as may
be, of a thousand years of history.

[Footnote 1: W. R. Anson, The Law and Custom of the
Constitution (3d ed., Oxford, 1897), I., 13.]

II. ANGLO-SAXON BEGINNINGS

The earliest form of the English constitution was that which existed
during the centuries prior to the Norman Conquest. Political
organization among the Germanic invaders of Britain was of the (p. 003)
most rudimentary sort, but the circumstances of the conquest and
settlement of the island were such as to stimulate a considerable
elaboration of governmental machinery and powers. From the point of