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LAW.

Civil, Canon, and Statute Law of England.

By the CIVIL LAW, absolutely taken, is generally understood the civil or municipal law of the Roman empire, as comprised in the Institutes, the Digests, and the Code of the emperor Justinian.

The Institutes contain the elements or first principles of the Roman law; the Digests or Pandects contain the opinions and writings of eminent Roman lawyers; and the Code is a collection of imperial constitutions. These form the body of Roman law, as published about the time of Justinian. To this may be added the book of Feuds, containing the laws of the feudal system.

The civil law is used in England, under certain 'restrictions, in the ecclesiastical courts, 'military courts, court of admiralty, and courts of the two universities.

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The CANON LAW is a body of Roman ecclesiastical law relative to such matters as that church either has or pretends to have the proper jurisdiction over. This is compiled from scripture, from the ancient fathers, the ordinances of councils, and the decrees of the pope. consists of two parts, viz. the Decrees, which are ecclesiastical constitutions made by the pope and cardinals, and the Decretals, which are canonical epistles written by the pope for determining matters of controversy,

There are two species of courts in England, in which the canon law is under certain restrictions used. 1. The courts of the archbishops and bishops and their derivative officers, usually called ecclesiastical courts. 2. The courts of the two universities. In the first of these the reception of the canon law is grounded entirely upon custom; but the custom in the case of the universities

derives additional support from the acts of parliament which confirm the 'charters of these bodies. They are all however, subject to the superintendence and control of the courts of common law, and from all of them an appeal lies to the king in the last resort.

The STATUTE or written laws of England comprehend the acts of parliament passed by the consent of the three estates of the realm, since, or within the time of memory, that is, since the reign of Richard the First.

The oldest of these now extant and printed in our statute books is the famous Magna Charta. The manner of making these statutes has already been explained.

Statutes are either general or special, public or private. A general or public act is an universal rule that regards the whole 1 community; special or private acts are those, which only operate upon particular persons and private

concerns.

Statutes also are either declaratory of the common law, or remedial of some defects therein. Declaratory where the old custom of the kingdom is almost fallen into disuse or become disputable; remedial when they are intended to supply such defects in the common law as arise either from the general imperfection of all human laws, or from change of time and circumstances.

Besides these, there are courts of 1equity established for the benefit of the subject, to detect 'latent frauds and concealments which the process of the courts of law is not adapted to reach; to enforce the execution of such matters of trust and confidence as are binding in conscience, though not cognizable in a court of law. These courts, however, are only conversant in matters of property.

1. Vide Root. 2. Vide p. 146 and Appendix. 3 Vide p. 227, Parliament.

NORTH AMERICA.

'Physical Features, Productions, &c.

NORTH America extends from the north pole southerly to the Isthmus of Darien. It is washed on the eastern side by the Atlantic, and on the western by the Pacific Ocean; and it narrows in breadth as it extends southerly.

The countries in North America are the island of Iceland, Greenland, the polar regions, inhabited by the Esquimaux and other tribes of Indians, British America, Russian America, the United States, Mexico, and Guatimala.

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Iceland is situated on the verge of the polar circle. Its length is three hundred, and its breadth nearly a hundred and fifty miles. It is a colony of Denmark, and the governor is appointed by the king. There is no other country in which so great an amount of knowledge is universally diffused. The laws are mild, and crime is rare. Greenland also belongs to the crown of Denmark. The Danish establishments consist of about twenty 1factories scattered along the coast, and divided into two departments, over each of which an inspector presides. The climate is intensely cold.

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Russian America 'comprises the north-western part of the American continent, and is generally of an alpine and sterile character. There are only about a thousand Russians in the country, who are engaged in the fur-trade with the natives, who are mostly Esquimaux.

Between North and South America are a number of beautiful islands, called the West Indies.

1. Vide Root. 2. The same effect is produced by height even in warm climates; at the elevation of 1950 feet the vine disappears, 2800 feet chestnut trees die, at 4000 the hardy oak ceases, the birch tree at 4680, and every tree at 5900 feet. Lichens and mosses are found as far as man has gone in any direction. 3. America when discovered had no large animals, but antediluvian remains of the immense fossil kinds are frequently found-the mammoth, the mastodon, eighteen feet long and twelve feet high, the gigantic elk, nine and a half feet high, the megatherium, the megalosaurus, the long-necked plesiosaurus, and the amphibious ichthyosaurus.

It is extremely cold through all the northern part of North America. In this dreary region, no trees are to be found, no plants flourish. For nine months in the year, the sea is frozen, and scarcely a living thing is able to dwell there. Even in summer, nothing is seen but now and then a lonely white bear, or a 'solitary reindeer feeding upon moss.

As you proceed south, you meet with a few willow and birch trees, and some hardy plants. Still farther south, the vegetation improves, wild animals become abundant, and wild birds are seen swimming in the waters, or hovering in the air.

Here you meet with tribes of Esquimaux and Chippewa Indians. When you get to Canada, you find a fruitful country. When you get as far south as the United States, the climate becomes pleasant. In the West Indies, around the Gulf of Mexico, and throughout all the northern parts of South America, the climate is that of perpetual spring or summer.

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The wild animals are very numerous. The bison, wild goat, wild sheep, antelope, many kinds of deer, several kinds of bears, wolves, foxes, and many smaller 1 quadrupeds, together with birds of many kinds, are natives of America.

America is remarkable for three things: it has the largest lakes, the longest rivers, and the longest chain of mountains, to be found in the world. Its mountains extend the whole length of the continent, being called the Andes in South America, the Cordilleras in Guatimala and Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains in the United States.

GEOGRAPHICAL-Area, 8,000 square miles. Population, 25,000,000.
Write the names of the islands belonging to North America.
What are its principal gulfs, straits, and capes?

What is the course of the great rivers of America?

What separate the several states mentioned in this lesson ?

What is the name of the capital of each state, and how is it situate?

CHRONOLOGICAL.-The first permanent English settlement was at James Town 1607 Pennsylvania purchased of the Indians by William Fenn ............

1681

ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.

Organs of Digestion and Respiration.

THE body must be nourished, or it cannot live. There are organs on purpose for this duty; and which, by the unpleasant sensations of hunger and thirst, oblige us to attend to it. There are thirty-two teeth,-some sharp, for cutting the food,-some broad, for grinding it. The tongue, besides keeping the food between the teeth, assists in mingling it. Afterwards, by the action of muscles, it is carried down through the back part of the mouth, a process called swallowing; then through a pipe, (the gullet, or œsophagus,) into the stomach. The stomach is a bag, made up of an inner skin-the mucous membrane, an outer skin or covering, and a middle coat or muscle, which, by its contraction and expansion agitates the food while digesting.

When the food reaches the stomach, there is a fluid called the gastric juice, which has the power of dissolving or macerating it, forming a whitish pulpy mass called chyme. As soon as this is done, it passes into the first part of the bowels, which, because it assists in digestion, is called the second stomach. In this stage of the process, another important change goes on,-a small pipe or 'duct from the liver, brings bile by a little opening into this bowel. The liver is situated within the edges of the ribs, and is the organ where bile is produced.

The bile or gall, as it is often called, is a yellowish or greenish fluid, which when it comes from the liver down into this bowel mingles with the chyme. The whole of the food we take goes to form chyme; but there is much useless matter in it which would not nourish the body, if carried throughout it. The use of the bile is to separate this matter, which is then got rid of through the bowels;

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