Note 1 — VOLUME VII SLICE VI Coucy-le-Château to Crocodile (continued 14)

“It is founded,” said Sir J. Fitzjames Stephen, writing in 1863, “on a set of loose definitions and descriptions of crimes, the most important of which are as old as Bracton. Upon this foundation there was built, principally in the course of the 18th century, an entire and irregular superstructure of acts of parliament, the enactments of which were for the most part intended to supply the deficiencies of the original system. These acts have been re-enacted twice over in the present generation—once between 1826 and 1832 and once in 1861; besides which they were all amended in 1837. Finally, every part of the whole system has been made the subject of judicial comments and constructions occasioned by particular cases, the great mass of which have arisen within the last fifty years.” (View of the Criminal Law of England, by J. Fitzjames Stephen.)