f corruption
most deeply felt in every part of the constitution of their courts. On
the accession of Napoleon to the throne, the most respectable and able
men among the judges and magistrates were continued in their
appointments, and the vacancies, occasioned by the dismission of those
found guilty of corruption, (many of whom had, during the confusions of
the revolution, actually seized their situations), were supplied, in
frequent instances, by those of the older nobility, whose characters and
principles were known and respected. In addition to this, the civil and
the criminal codes were both carefully revised. In this revisal, the
greatest legal talents in the nation were employed. The laws of
different nations, more particularly of England, were brought to
contribute in the formation of a new code; and by a compilation from the
Roman, the French and the English law, a new institute, or body of civil
and criminal justice, was formed, intended for the regulation of the
whole kingdom. Previous to this change, it must be observed, that the
laws, in the different provinces of the kingdom, were in some measure
formed _upon_, and always interwoven _with_, the particular observances
and customs of their respective provinces; the inevitable consequence
was, that every province, possessing different usages, had also a
different code. [44]"La bizarrerie des loix," says Mercier, "et la
variete des coutumes font que l'avocat le plus savant devient un ignore
des qu'il se trouve en Gasgogne, ou en Normandie. Il perd a Vernon, un
proces qu'il avoit gagne a Poissy. Prenez le plus habile pour la
consultation, et la plaidoyerie, eh bien, il sera oblige d'avoir son
avocat et son procureur, si on lui intente un proces dans le resort de
la plupart des autres parlemens." The consequence of this was an
uncertainty, intricacy, and want of any thing like regulating principles
in the laws, and an incoherency and inconsistency in the administration
of both civil and criminal justice.

The improvements introduced by the late Emperor, have therefore,
considered under this point of view, been of no common benefit to the
kingdom, as they have given, to some measure, certainty, principle and
consistency, the essential attributes of good laws, to what was
formerly a mass of confusion.

At Aix, where we resided, the head court is held for four provinces, and
there is a college for the study of law and divinity. Most of the
acquaintances I there for