the case of the German or of the Swiss Confederation, the body of confederated governments enforces its own resolutions, those confederated governments are one composite state, rather than a system of confederated states. The body of confederated governments is properly sovereign; and to that aggregate and sovereign body each of its constituent members is properly in a state of subjection." FEE-FARM RENT. [RENT.] FEE-SIMPLE. [ESTATE.] FEE-TAIL. [ESTATE] FEELING. [TOUCH.]

FEES, certain sums of money claimed as their perquisite by official persons under the authority of various Acts of Parliament, and by prescription. The right to fees, as well as the amount payable in most cases connected with the administration of justice, has been regulated by several recent statutes.

Officers demanding improper fees are guilty of extortion. [EXTORTION.]

The rewards paid to barristers and physicians, attorneys and surgeons, for their several services, are called fees, which may be recovered by the three last-named by action. Barristers cannot recover their fees by any legal proceeding; nor can physicians, if they are members of a college of physicians which has enacted a bye-law to that effect. [COUNSEL; PHYSICIAN.]

FEHM GERICHTE, FEMGERICHTE, or VEHM GERICHTE, the celebrated courts of justice of Westphalia, which have been, on very slender authority, said to be the relic of an institution of Charlemagne, but which certainly flourished and possessed most enormous power and influence during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was chiefly confined to what was then known as Westphalia, which included nearly all the countries between the Rhine and the Weser, and extended from the mountains of Hesse on the south to Friesland on the north; and this district bore the mystic name of the red earth in the records of the time, though the exact derivation or meaning of the term is uncertain. It would seem that, whatever earlier institutions it may have been founded upon, the tribunal was first organised when, after the deposition and outlawry of the emperor Henry the Lion, the authority of the laws, both civil and ecclesiastical, gave way to force, which, in the hands of ignorance and rapacity, threatened society with dissolution. In order to check the audacity of those who, relying upon their power, thought themselves above the reach of the law, and for the protection of the defenceless and innocent, a secret tribunal was formed, called the sacred Fehme, or Fehm Gericht. These tribunals arose from the like causes which formed the tradeguilds in towns, and the confederacy of the Hanse Towns, namely, the necessity of individuals following peaceful professions defending themselves by unions against the spoliation and tyranny exercised by the feudal nobility, and which neither the law nor the emperor was able to repress, nor, except in rare cases, to punish. When these confederations became sufficiently powerful to defend themselves, the neighbouring nobility were frequently desirous of becoming members of the community, in order that they might in some measure guide what they could no longer resist. It was in fact an early development of public opinion developed in forms peculiar to the period; and the sentences of the Fehm Gerichte itself, except that the institution was permanent, resembled in some of its features those of the Lynch-law in the back settlements of the United States of America. There was usually no concealment, the trial was held commonly in the open air, in the presence of an audience; and it was only on the conviction of an offender who failed to appear that his death was effected by the means which added so much mystery and terror to the judgments of the courts.

By the constitution of the tribunal, the Emperor of Germany was the nominal head, who was usually made a member of the Fehm on his coronation at Aachen: but very early the archbishop of Cologne was made the imperial lieutenant in Westphalia; and indeed it is stated that archbishop Engelbert was, in 1179, the first Freygraf. Under the archbishop were the tribunal lords (Stuhiherren), to each of whom a particular district was assigned, beyond which he had no jurisdiction. The Stuhlherr either presided in the courts himself or deputed a count (Freygraf) to take his place; for the country was divided into counties (Grafschaften), and every county had at least one Freygraf, who took an oath to judge truly and justly, and to be obedient to the emperor and his lieutenant. Next to the counts were the assessors or Schöppen, who formed the bulk of the society. These were nominated by the count, with the approval of the Stuhlherr, after having been recommended by two persons, already members of the tribunal, who vouched for the fitness of the candidate. The candidate was required to have been born in marriage, of free parents, to be a Christian, to be neither excommunicated nor outlawed, not to be involved in any process before the tribunal, not to belong to any spiritual order, and at first to have been a native of Westphalia; but latterly strangers were admitted. Kneeling bareheaded before the assembly, with his thumb and forefinger on a naked sword and a halter, he swore

"I promise, on the holy marriage, that I will, from henceforth, aid, keep, and conceal the holy Fehms, from wife and child, from father and mother, from sister and brother, from fire and wind, from all that the sun shines on and the rain wets, from all that is between sky and ground, especially from the man who knows the law; and will bring

before this free tribunal, under which I sit, all that belongs to the secret jurisdiction of the emperor, whether I know it to be true myself, or have heard it from trustworthy people, whatever requires correction or punishment, whatever is Fehm-free (that is, a crime committed in the county), that it may be judged, or, with the consent of the accuser, be put off in grace; and will not cease so to do, for love or for fear, for gold or for silver, or for precious stones; and will strengthen this tribunal and jurisdiction with all my five senses and power; and that I do not take on me this office for any other cause than for the sake of right and justice; moreover, that I will ever further and honour this free tribunal more than any other free tribunals; and what I thus promise will I steadfastly and firmly keep, so help me God and his Holy Gospel."

As soon as the neophyte had pronounced the oath, he was informed that the object of the association was to uphold peace, virtue, and honour against the open or concealed enemies of the law; and as the interest of the order required that the schöppen of the different counties and principalities should be known to each other, they had adopted a sign consisting of four letters, S.S.G.G., the signification of which is still involved in mystery. The neophyte was further presented with a rope, which he was obliged to carry in his left sleeve, and also a dagger, on which the four above-mentioned letters were engraved, together with other symbols. Moreover he was charged with the duty of accusing before the secret tribunal all those who could not be successfully prosecuted before the ordinary courts, and of executing capital punishment whenever required by the society to perform this duty,

The mode of proceeding against the accused was as follows: If the author of a crime absconded, or his residence was unknown, the schöppe was required to write four summonses, and post them on a cross road; but if the residence was known, the schöppe came at night, and nailed the summons with four nails, folded as a letter, containing an imperial farthing, on the man's door. He then rang the bell, and told the porter that he had brought a letter from the sacred tribunal for his master. The initiated could go through the country unimpeded, on foot or on horseback, for none was so daring as to stay or injure him. The summons required the accused to appear at a certain hour at the appointed spot, within a fortnight after its delivery, to answer for his base and criminal conduct before the sacred tribunal, or otherwise clear himself of the accusation; at the same time threatening to proceed against him for contempt in case of nonappearance. If the accused attended the summons, the schöppe who brought the accusation was called upon by the Freygraf to state all that he and his witnesses knew relating to the charge, after which the accused and his witnesses were heard. The judges assembled on a Tuesday in the open air. The count presided, and before him on the table lay a naked sword and a withy halter. On his right and left stood the clerks of the court, the assessors, and the audience, all bareheaded, their hands uncovered, and unarmed, signifying that they would cover no right with unright, that they would do nothing underhand, and that they were at peace with the emperor and the law. They wore short mantles to show that as the cloak covers the body so should their love cover justice. Each party was entitled to produce compurgators, and the verdict was left to the assessors. An appeal, however, lay, if claimed before the court broke up, to the Secret Closed Tribunal of the Imperial Chambers, which usually held its sittings at Dortmund. These proceedings were for the uninitiated; for the initiated it was sufficient that the accused, laying his two forefingers on the naked sword, swore he was innocent; but one of the initiated convicted of revealing the secrets of the tribunal was imme diately hung. When the sentence was pronounced, the execution of which, in case of capital punishment, was intrusted to all the members of the order, the condemned, if present, was at once executed; if he had not appeared, the schöppen were set in pursuit of him. Whenever three schöppen (for that was the number necessary for an ordinary execution) met the person condemned, they seized him, and with one of the ropes which they carried in their sleeves, hung him on the next tree, fixing a dagger in the trunk to denote that the deceased was killed by the holy tribunal. When such an event occurred, no court of law dared to take notice of the affair; every man's tongue was struck silent, for fear of incurring the vengeance of this terrible body. This punishment, however, was seldom inflicted upon those who readily appeared; in such cases the judges were satisfied with causing the defender to redress the wrong that he had inflicted. But if the accused failed to attend the summons, which was repeated three times, judgment passed by default, and the accused was declared an outlaw. Every schöppe, though he were the father or son of the criminal, was in duty bound to put him to death by the rope, the dagger, the sword, or even poison, and to revenge any insult offered to the tribunal upon man, woman, or child, noble or plebeian, freeborn or slave, house or farm, monastery or nunnery, that dared to shelter him.

The power of this tribunal was greater than that of the Holy Inquisition; it struck terror into all Germany, and especially in West. phalia, where it originated. Princes and nobles were anxious to enter into this order either for protection against their enemies, or to avoid the jurisdiction of a tribunal the power of which they were unable to withstand. Towards the end of the 15th century, the German empire having acquired more political consistency, and the objects for which

6

this tribunal was instituted having ceased to exist, it gradually lost its power, without being abolished by any legislative enactment. Some traces of the revival of this tribunal appear in the 17th century, but its efforts to regain its former importance were checked by the public authorities. It sunk at length into utter insignificance; and a remnant of it which continued to act as a kind of society for the suppression of vice was abolished in Westphalia by order of Jerome Bonaparte in the year 1811. The members of the order maintained that they were the true and genuine possessors of the secrets intrusted to the Fehin by Charlemagne, but no one would or could explain the signification of the mystical S.S.G.G. Goethe has given a graphic picture of the working of this tribunal in his historical drama Göetz von Berlichingen; and Scott in his 'Anne of Geierstein,' has described the proceedings of the tribunal: but neither have confined themselves to the historical facts, and the last has wandered widely. The best historical accounts of its organisation are by Bork, Geschichte der Westphalischen Vehmgerichte,' Bremen, 1815; Paul Wigand, Das Femgericht Westfalens,' Hamm., 1827; and Usener, 'Die Frei und heimlichen Gerichte Westphalens,' Frankfurt, 1832. FEIGNED DISEASES. There are few subjects attended with more difficulty than the detection of feigned diseases, especially when they are the result of a system which permits of a constant refinement of the deceit by practice. This has been especially the case in France, where the object has been to escape the conscription. Foderé has observed, "that it was brought to such a perfection as to render it as difficult to detect a feigned disease as to cure a real one." The motives which usually lead to this practice are-1, A release from obligation. This is frequently the case in the army and navy, where the men will pretend to be ill to escape duty or to gain their discharge. In this form it has got the name of Malingering. Beggars, too, often feign illness when they are offered work, preferring the easy task of soliciting charity to the labour of an occupation. 2, The hope of gain. This motive comes into operation where the object is to obtain relief from the parish, to impose upon the benevolence of private persons, to procure the allowances of benefit societies, clubs, &c., to get admitted into an hospital, or to obtain compensation for some pretended injury. 3, To procure release from confinement or an exemption from punishment. This motive is a source of deceit with boys and girls at school, persons committed to prison, &c. To these may be added the love of exciting the sympathy or gaining the attention of others, where no hope or need of gain exists. This motive acts in all classes of society, and leads individuals of otherwise the highest moral character to imitate all forms of disease. It is observed most frequently in young and unmarried females, and is frequently carried to the extent of feigning diseases for which capital operations are required; and instances are not wanting where surgeons (not much however to their credit) have removed legs, breasts, and arms at the solicitation of such patients.

There is no natural limit to diseases which may be feigned; but some being much more easily imitated than others, and less easily detected, are most frequently assumed. Feigned diseases may be divided into, 1, those which are obvious to the senses; 2, those depending upon the description of the impostor, and 3, those of a complicated nature, presenting symptoms of both kinds. Amongst diseases obvious to the senses are an increased or diminished size of parts, wounds, malformations, ulcers, discharges, spasmodic and paralytic affections. A favourite mode of increasing the size of parts, and producing tumours, is by injecting air beneath the cellular membrane. In this way such diseases as dropsy, local and general, hernia, hydrocele, varicose veins, elephantiasis, oedema of the extremities, may be simulated. Pressure also, by means of ligatures, &c. on the veins, will produce swellings of parts of the body. Swellings also of the joints, so as to resemble white swellings, are produced by the application of various acrid plants, as the ranunculus acris and sceleratus to the part. Polypi, hydatids, malignant tumours, and hæmorrhoids, are imitated by affixing in some manner the intestines and other viscera of animals to the parts of the body in which these diseases occur. Cancer has been imitated by a cow's spleen, and by a sponge moistened with milk fixed under the arm-pit. The various malformations of the body are feigned by obstinate and long-continued flexion of the part, aided by inaction and the use of tight bandages. Sometimes these contractions are accompanied by a wound, in order to prove that they have been effected by a burn. Many means have been proposed for detecting this class of impositions, such as compressing with a tourniquet the nerves that supply the contracted muscles; applying a wet bandage tightly round the limb, so that when it becomes dry it may overcome the contraction; moving the contracted limb during natural sleep or that produced by narcotics; or making extension whilst the person is under the influence of an emetic, or when his attention is directed to other objects; recommending the coast of Africa, or some other disagreeable thing, as a Wounds and sores are produced in a variety of ways. Wounds, when self-inflicted, will always be in positions where persons can get at the spot where they exist, with their own hands. Accomplices are however sometimes engaged even in this. Ulcers are among the most common of feigned diseases. They are produced by red-hot iron, by caustics, as corrosive acids and alkalies, and the juices of various plants, as of the ranunculus acris and sceleratus, the spurge-laurel, the euphorbium, arum maculatum, and juniper. Where persons are suspected of

cure.

keeping up ulcers in their legs by irritants, the placing their legs in a box and locking them up will allow the ulcers to heal. The various forms of cutaneous disease are produced by the application of irritants to the skin, as pounded garlic, euphorbium, cantharides, gunpowder, nitric acid, bay salt, &c. The discoloration of jaundice is imitated by various dyes, as well as the appearance of bruises. Ophthalmia is a disease often feigned, and is commonly produced by the application of irritants, as snuff, pepper, tobacco, blue vitriol, salt, alum, &c. The progress of the inflammation in these cases is usually more rapid than in the idiopathic form. It is mostly also confined to one eye, for obvious reasons; and when occurring in the army it may be suspected, if epidemic, when it only comes on in privates and non-cominissioned officers. Diseased discharges are often simulated. Vomiting is effected by pressing on the pit of the stomach, by swallowing air, by strong and sudden action of the abdominal muscles, by tickling the fauces, and the use of emetics. Diarrhoea and dysentery are produced by taking drastic purgatives. Fragments of brick, slate, small pebbles, pieces of quartz, and flint, have been introduced into the urethra, to bear out the alleged existence of urinary calculus. Hæmaturia has been simulated by tinging the urine with various colouring matters, and the disease has really been brought on by the taking of savin, cantharides, and turpentine. Spitting of blood is a favourite assumed disease. It is simulated by placing a sponge in the mouth filled with bullock's blood, by cutting the mouth and gums, and by sucking blood from other parts of the body. A vomiting of urine and fæces have taken place by the stealthy introduction of the contents of the bladder and rectum into the stomach.

The spasmodic diseases to which the system is subject have been imitated with great success, and none more so than epilepsy. It has for its peculiar recommendation, that the person who is subject to it may be well at intervals and assume the attacks when it best suits him. The best criterion of imposition is the want of the total insensibility which characterises the true fits. In the feigned disease the application of stimulants will seldom fail to elicit indications of sensibility. Hartshorn or burning sulphur may be introduced under the nose: alcohol and turpentine may be dropped into the eye, and mustard or common salt placed in the mouth. Pricking the skin with sharp-pointed instruments has also been recommended. This however is frequently resisted. Dr. Guy recommends "flecking" the feet with a wet towel. He says he has by this means aroused a patient from a mesmeric slumber when all other mechanical stimulants and cold affusions had failed. Convulsions are often imitated; but where they are fictitious they cannot be sustained for any length of time without great exhaustion. Chorea is also often imitated. Electricity and cold affusions are the best remedies for this disease, and are likely to be effectual in the case of impostors. Hysteria, catalepsy, tetanus, hydrophobia, some forms of tonic spasm, stammering, strabismus, and difficulty of swallowing, are other diseases of the nervous system which are often imitated. Paralytic affections are also frequently simulated. The treatment resorted to for the cure of these diseases, when natural, would be found a trying ordeal for most impostors. Cases however are related in which impostors have resisted the most active treatment; and a case of simulated lethargy is on record, in which an individual resisted with only a single groan the operation of trephining.

Another class of feigned diseases are those which depend chiefly upon the description given by the impostor. These are all embraced in increased and diminished sensations. Increased pain of one or many organs is commonly feigned. It is easily assumed but not easily detected, as many pains, such as that of tic douloureux, come on in an apparently healthy state of the system; and many pains of a severe character are dependent on exceedingly obscure causes. There are no rules which can be laid down for the detection of simulated pain; and it is only those who have extensively observed the effects of real pain on the system, that can readily distinguish that which is pretended. Of diminished sensations, blindness, and deafness are those most frequently feigned. Amaurosis may be really produced for a time by the application of belladonna, henbane, spurge laurel, and tobacco; but under these circumstances it disappears when the impostor is carefully watched. Deafness is often assumed, but it may be detected by unexpectedly or sharply calling out the name of the individual, by calling him by name when asleep, or letting a piece of money fall close to him. Dumbness has been successfully feigned, and cases are recorded which resisted every attempt at discovery. It may be frequently detected by giving the person a sudden and unexpected knock, or a prick with a pin.

Sometimes general diseases are assumed, embracing a collection of symptoms. Of these, the most frequently assumed are fever, ague, rheumatism, phthisis, asthma, dyspepsia, jaundice, inflammations of the bowels, stomach, and kidneys. These feigned diseases are only to be detected by a knowledge of the real diseases, when a correct diagnosis is not often difficult. Of diseases involving complicated symptoms, that of unsoundness of mind is most frequently and most successfully feigned. The success however does not depend so much on the ease with which the symptoms of true insanity are imitated, as upon the ignorance that prevails of the distinguishing characters of real insanity When these are once known an impostor may be easily detected. The most frequent form of assumed madness is general mania. In addition

to the characters of the true disease, special tests have been proposed, such as the use of the whirling chair, and "repeating to the suspected person a series of ideas recently uttered, when the real maniac will introduce new ideas; the impostor, on the contrary, will deem it expedient to repeat the same words." (Guy.)

The following general rules for detecting feigned diseases have been given by Zacchias :1. The first is, that the physician must in all suspected cases inquire of the relatives and friends of the suspected individual what are his physical and moral habits. He must ascertain the state of his affairs, and inquire what may possibly be the motive for feigning disease, particularly whether he is not in immediate danger of some punishment from which this sickness may excuse him.

2. Compare the disease under examination with the causes capable of producing it--such as the age, temperament, and mode of life of the patient. Thus artifice might be suspected if a person in high health and correct in his diet should suddenly fall into dropsy or cachexia; and again if insanity should suddenly supervene without any of its premonitory symptoms. It is contrary to experience to find such diseases occur without some previous indications.

3. The third rule is derived from the aversion of persons feigning disease to take proper remedies. This indeed will occur in real sickness, but it rarely happens when severe pain is present. Anything that promises relief is generally acceptable in such cases; those on the contrary who feign delay the use of means.

4. Particular attention should be paid to the symptoms present, and whether they necessarily belong to the disease. An expert physician may thus cause a patient to fall into contradiction, and lead him to a statement which is incompatible with the nature of the complaint. To effect this it is necessary to visit him frequently and unexpectedly. 5. The last direction is to follow the course of the complaint and attend to the circumstances which successively occur. (Beck, Medical Jurisprudence; Thomson, A. T., Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence; Guy, W. A., Principles of Forensic Medicine.) FELLOWSHIP, in books of arithmetic, the rule by which profit or loss is divided among those who are to bear it, in proportion to their investments or interests in the transaction. It is usual to divide this rule into two parts, of which the first supposes all the investments to have been made for the same time, and the second supposes the partners to have employed their money during different times. One simple case of each will be sufficient.

Question 1. A, B, and C embarked 107., 9., and 87. in a venture which yielded 301. of profit. How much belongs to each?

If 10+9+8, or 27 adventurers embarked 17. each, it is clear that each of them should have the 27th part of 301. Let 10 of them assign their shares to A, 9 to B, and 8 to C, and we have the case in question. That is, A should have 10-27ths, B 9-27ths, and C 8-27ths of the whole profit.

Question 2. A profit of 30l. was realised by A embarking 101. for two months, B embarking 97. for three months, and C embarking 81. for four months. How much ought each to gain?

Here the 17. of A and the 17. of B are differently circumstanced: the second was employed half as long again as the first, and consequently should gain half as much again. Now let one pound sterling employed during one month be called a share: then A invested 20 shares, B 27 shares, and C 32 shares. Hence, as before, 20+27 +32 being 79, A should have 20-79ths, B should have 27-79ths, and C 32-79ths of the gain. The first is a rule of very frequent occurrence; but the second is rare, for it seldom happens that money is withdrawn from an undertaking, except upon some specific agreement. But the modern practice of dividing an enterprise into shares of equal amount, and never subdividing a share, reduces all questions of fellowship to simple division. But, as often happens, a name has got into the wrong place. The result which division gives to A, instead of being called his quotient, is called his dividend.

FELLOWSHIP (in a college) is an establishment in the college entitling the holder to a share in its revenues. The fellows are a part of the corporation. [COLLEGE.] Fellowships are either original, that is, part of the foundation or scheme of the original founder; or ingrafted, that is, endowed by subsequent benefactors of a college already established. Where the number of fellows is limited by the original foundation, new fellows cannot be made members of the corporate body without a new incorporation. If the number is not limited by the charter, it seems that the corporation may admit new fellows as members, who will be subject to the statutes of the original foundation in all respects. Graduates of each several college are in general only eligible to fill a vacant fellowship in the establishment to which they belong after having been elected to scholarships on the foundation, awarded at examinations held by the master and fellows in being. But in some cases special rules which control the election prevail, as where the fellow must be of the blood of the founder, or where he must be a native of a particular county, &c., and in some few cases fellowships are open to the graduates of several colleges, or even the whole university. In Downing College graduates of both universities are eligible. These rules are prescribed by the founder, modified in some cases by the bye-laws of the several colleges. Some few fellowships may be held by laymen, but in general they can be retained only

by persons already in holy orders, or who are ordained within a specified time. Fellowships are of unequal value, varying from 307. and less to 250l. a year and upwards, the senior fellowships in those colleges where there is any such distinction between the fellows being the most lucrative; but all confer upon their holders the right to apartments in the college, for which in some instances a small annual sum is charged as rent, and certain money privileges as to commons or meals. They are in general tenable for life, unless the holder marries, or inherits estates which afford a larger revenue, or accepts one of the livings belonging to the college which cannot be held with a fellowship; but in the new statutes now under discussion, the commissioners for the University of Cambridge propose to limit the tenure in some of the colleges (at the same time removing the restriction against celibacy). These livings are conferred upon the fellows, who in general have the option of taking them in order of seniority, though in some colleges the holders of particular offices have priority of choice, as for instance in Trinity College, Cambridge, where the vice-master has such right by a bye-law of the college.

The whole subject of fellowships in the different colleges of the University of Cambridge is at the present time, January, 1860, in a transition state; the commissioners above-mentioned being engaged in the duty of revising and altering the old statutes, in which revision very important changes both as to the tenure of, and mode of election to, fellowships, and the position of the fellows themselves, are contemplated. FELO-DE-SE (a felon of himself) is a person who, being of sound mind and of the age of discretion, deliberately causes his own death; and also, in some cases, where one maliciously attempts to kill another, and, in pursuance of such attempt, unwillingly kills himself, he is adjudged a felo-de-se. (1 Hawk. P. C. c. 27, § 4.) When the deceased is found by the coroner a felo-de-se, all his chattels, real and personal, are forfeited to the crown, though they are usually restored upon pay. ment of moderate fees; and therefore a will made by him is void as to his personal estate, though not as to his real estate, nor is his wife barred of her dower. Formerly he was buried in the highway with a stake driven through his body. These laws, so highly repugnant to the feelings of humanity, being a punishment to the surviving relatives of the deceased, in addition to the general impression that no man in his sound sense ever does commit suicide, caused juries in general to find that the deceased was not of sound mind; and by the Act 4 Geo. IV. c. 52, the legislature has so far yielded to the popular and herein the better opinion, as to abolish the former ignominious mode of burial, and to provide that a felo-de-se shall be privately interred at night in the burial-ground in which his remains might by law have been interred if the verdict of felo-de-se had not been found against him.

FELONY, in the general acceptation of the English law, comprises every species of crime which occasioned at common law the forfeiture of lands or goods, or both, and to which a capital or other punishment might be superadded, according to the degree of guilt. Various derivations of the word have been suggested. Sir Henry Spelman supposes that it may have come from the Teutonic or German "fee" (fief or feud) and "lon" (price or value), or from the Saxon "feelen" (to fall or offend). Capital punishment by no means enters into the true idea and definition of felony; but the common notion of felony has been so generally connected with that of capital punishment, that law-writers have found it difficult to separate them: indeed, this notion acquired such force, that if a statute made any new offence felony, the law implied that it should be punished with death. The number of offences, however, to which this punishment is affixed by the law of England is now very small; and several statutes were passed early in the present reign (1 Vict.) founded upon the principle that the punishment of death should only be inflicted for crimes accompanied with violence. Thus c. 84 substituted the punishment of transportation for that of death in those cases where the latter might still be inflicted for forgery; c. 85 materially lessened the severity of the punishment of offences against the person; c. 86 enacted that burglary unaccompanied with violence shall no longer be punished capitally, and provided that, so far as the offence of burglary is concerned, the night should be considered to commence at nine in the evening and to conclude at six in the morning; c. 87 mitigated the punishment attending the crimes of robbery and stealing from the person; c. 88 rendered piracy punishable with death only when murder was attempted; c. 89 regulated the punishment for the crime of arson; c. 90 mitigated the punishment of transportation for life in certain cases; and c. 91 abolished the punishment of death in the cases there specified. The principle of amelioration was carried still further four years later by the stat. 4 & 5 Vict. c. 56, abolishing capital punishment for embezzlement by servants of the Bank of England, offences under the Stamp Act, riotous demolition of churches, houses, &c., and also for rape. Great numbers of offences were formerly liable to this severe punishment; and it must seem strange to persons who do not observe the extreme difficulty with which old-established customs and prejudices, however ill founded, are subverted, that this system should so long and so obstinately have withstood the most convincing arguments and conclusive statistical evidence. It is impossible, within the limits of this article, to enumerate the crimes which the law considers to be felonies; and the more so, as the word felony has long been used to signify the degree of crime rather than the penal consequences. It may be sufficient, therefore,

to state generally, that murder, manslaughter, felo-de-se, robbery, arson, burglary, some offences against the coin, &c., are considered and classed as felonies; and (the distinction between grand and petit larceny no longer existing) every larceny is a felony.

Besides the special punishment affixed to his crime by the law, a felon upon conviction forfeited the rents and profits of his lands of inheritance during his life to the king (which are now usually compounded for), and also all his goods and chattels absolutely; and as attainder of felony caused corruption of blood, his lands, except of gavelkind tenure, escheated to the lord of the fee. This last conse quence, however, was taken away by stat. 54 Geo. III. c. 145, which enacted that, except for treason or murder, corruption of blood should not follow attainder; and as difficulties might sometimes occur in tracing descent through an ancestor who had been attainted, it was, by the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 108, § 10, enacted that descent may be traced through any person who shall have been attainted before such descent shall have taken place. [ESCHEAT; FORFEITURE.]

In connection with this subject, it may be interesting to refer to the distinction formerly taken between felony with and without benefit of clergy, as explained in the article BENEFIT OF CLERGY.

FELT; FELTING. Under HAT MANUFACTURE will be found a description of that peculiar process whereby woollen and fur fibres are felted into a material suitable for hats; but woollen fibres are also sometimes combined by the felting instead of the weaving process for carpets and various kinds of cloth. Among other manufacturing firms for the purpose, there is the Patent Felted Woollen cloth Company;' by whom is made felt carpets, embossed and printed felt table-covers, felt polishing cloth for plate and other purposes, felt for veterinary purposes, felt waistcoatings, felt coach-cloths and railway-carriageLinings, upholsterers' felt, and felt for pianofortes.

A material called Asphalted Roofing Felt has come rather extensively into use. The two principal kinds are Croggon's and McNeill's. The qualities of this material are imperviousness to rain and snow, non conductibility of heat, elasticity, lightness, durability, economy, and easy application. The felt is used for roofing buildings; for lining granaries and stores; for protecting ceilings from damp; for lining the insides or outsides of wooden buildings; for covering conservatories and garden-frames; for thatching corn and hay ricks; and for many other purposes. This felt is sold in large sheets at the rate of about a penny per square foot. Another kind, called Inodorous Felt, is saturated with waterproof material free from the smell of the ordinary felt, and is used to prevent wall-paper from being injured by damp. There is also a patent Felted Sheathing, for covering ships' bottoms; it is a felted mixture of hair and vegetable fibre, not intended as a substitute for copper sheathing, but to be used as a layer beneath it. Another variety, the Non-conducting Felt, is used as a covering for boilers and steam-pipes, on account of its power of confining the heat within the vessel enclosed by it; it is used for fixed, locomotive, and marine steam-engines, and in breweries and distilleries: it is said also to be a good protective of water pipes from frost. An Asphalted Felt is made in long pieces, 32 inches wide by about 30 yards long, and is sold in any smaller or larger quantities. The fibrous material of which it is formed is saturated with asphalte or bitumen. Some of the sheds and other buildings at Devonport and Woolwich Dock Yards, the Isle of Portland, and elsewhere, have been covered with this material; but its inflammability is a disadvantage. For all the above and for other kinds of uses, new felted materials have been patented within the last few years. Williams's patent for felting wool or fur or both into cloth, taken out in 1840, was extended for a further period in 1854, on the ground that the process, although involving a heavy expenditure, had not yet yielded much profit. Parker's felt, patented in 1851, is made in a peculiar way. The fibres of wool, fur, or hair, are first made into a batt or soft sheet by the action of carding and doffing engines; this batt is wound on a roller and conveyed to the felting machine. There are two strata or beds of bars of wood, laid crosswise on straps or belts; the beds are horizontal, and a little distance apart; the batt of fibres is brought between them; and all the bars of the upper bed, having a reciprocating vertical movement, felt the fibres while travelling onward. The roller and the two beds dip in water, to facilitate the process. In reference to the felt for retaining the heat of steamboilers, we may state that a new mode of procedure was introduced by Mr. Garnett in 1858. The felt is here composed entirely of waste woollen refuse from paper-mills, converted to coarse pulp in the ordinary rag engines; it is put upon the steam boiler in a wet or pulpy state, and is felted or matted together by being beaten with pieces of flat wood. When dry, it becomes one solid piece. As a proof of its excellent qualities as a non-conductor of heat, it is asserted that on a boiler working at 50 or 60 tons pressure, candles may be laid on the felt for weeks together, without melting. The felt may at any time be taken off and replaced, by steeping in hot water till softened. So far as concerns the manufacture of felted cloth for garments, America appears to have made a greater advance than England. Mr. Whitworth, the eminent machinist, in reporting on the machines displayed at the Great Exhibition in New York in 1853, had occasion to notice the Bay State Mills at Lawrence, nine miles from Lowell, and twenty-six from Boston. This is one of the largest woollen mills in the world, employing more than 2000 hands. He said :

"The whole waste from the mills is worked up in the manufacture of felted cloth. The felt-making machine employs but a small space. A sliver of wool is taken from the carding machine and passed between two endless cloths; these carry it over a narrow steam-box, where it is steamed. It is then passed under a vibrating pressing-plate, which operation causes the fibres to curl and interlace with each other, and so form a cloth." The cloth thus made is of fair quality in fineness and elasticity. A new and useful fabric made in that establishment is felted lining cloth, composed of a small quantity of wool felted upon gauze; the gauze forms a back to the felt; and the substance obtained by this means is much thicker than the small quantity of material employed would seem to denote. The gauze surface is hidden when the lining is applied to a garment, and the felt is quite strong enough for the purpose in view. Some of the carpet and cloth felt made at these mills is printed by block-work; and in a few instances cloth for coatings is printed of two different colours on the two surfaces. FEME-SOLE. [WIFE.]

FEMININE. [GENDER.]

FENCES are necessary wherever cattle are depastured and properties divided; and according as they are intended to prevent men or cattle from trespassing over them, they are formed of various materials and dimensions.

When a park is enclosed to keep in deer or game, the best fence is a stone or brick wall, well built with lime-mortar; but as this is expensive where stone and lime are not at hand, the common park-paling is more frequently met with. This is composed of posts and rails of oak mortised and pinned together, and split pales of the same material nailed upon these in an upright position. The pales are split out of the trunks of oaks, where there are no branches or knots, when the sap is still in them. They are about half an inch thick, and with feather edges, that is, diminishing in thickness from one side to the other: their usual width is five inches. When they are nailed on the rails, which are usually of a triangular form, the thickest edge of one pale is nailed over the thinner edge of the preceding, forming thus a very close fence. Every alternate pale is placed three or four inches higher than its neighbour, which gives the top of the fence a castellated form. This is not done merely for appearance; but it makes it more difficult to climb over, and the deer are not so apt to leap at it as if the top were a straight line. The distance between the posts is usually nine feet; and the three rails with the pales nailed on them is called a panel, and may be conveniently moved at once when any alteration in the fence is required. A whole fence may be moved at a small expense, merely by digging out the posts, and placing them elsewhere. The panels come in regularly, and are pinned into the old mortices in the posts. Sometimes the pales are nailed at a distance from each other, which makes the open-paled fence, and the pales are then generally cut to a point at top. This fence is peculiar to Great Britain and Ireland, and is very seldom found on the Continent.

In the Jura and the Alps, where wood abounds, a rough fence is frequently made with strong split pieces of wood, which are fixed obliquely in the ground and supported at the upper end by two others placed in the form of a cross. It is not a very strong fence, but it is sufficient to prevent the cows from straying, for unless a bull with his horns makes a gap in it, they will not attempt to pass it.

In wild mountain pastures in Scotland and Ireland, it is usual to separate the properties of different individuals or that of parishes by rough stone walls put together without any mortar. The materials are generally at hand, and a rough and efficient fence is made without much labour.

Some of these walls are built with considerable skill and are very durable; especially if the stone is of a nature to split with a flat surface, in which case a dry wall may be built which has all the appearance of one built with mortar. Sometimes a layer of mortar is laid on the stones at a little distance from the ground, and another near the top. The coping is usually made of flat stones, which are sometimes placed on edge in a direction across the wall, and wedged together along the top of it or set in mortar, forming a very rough coping, which it is not easy to get over.

Where stones are not at hand, or less trouble is taken, a high bank of earth faced with sods of grass is substituted for a wall. This is not so durable and is more easily surmounted, unless a hedge of some kind be planted along the top. Furze seed is often sown for this purpose, and soon forms an excellent fence, which by proper care and clipping will last a long time. But the most common kind of fence for fields is the hedge and ditch, the bank being raised with the earth and sods taken out of the ditch, and the hedge planted on the side of the bank towards the ditch or on the top. Sometimes there is a ditch on both sides. In flat wet lands this last is extremely useful, not only as a fence, but as a drain for the superfluous water. When the ditch is intended to carry off the water, and there is only one, it is of consequence that it should be so placed as to answer this purpose effectually; it should therefore always be on that side of the bank where the ground rises, for otherwise the bank will impede the natural flow of the water, and it will be necessary to cut through it in different places to let the water running from above have an outlet into the ditch. In some extensive inclosures of land great inconvenience has arisen from the neglect of the surveyor in not attending to this circumstance, and setting out the bank on the upper side. Where they are

not required as drains, it is a great waste of land to have any ditches, and a simple hedge planted on the surface of the soil is much to be preferred. Of all fences, a live hedge, which is carefully planted, and kept properly cut and trimmed when it is grown up, is by far the best. [HEDGE.]

When a fence is required within sight of a dwelling, and it is desirable for it to be concealed, a deep ditch is sometimes dug, and a fence placed in the bottom of it at such a depth as not to appear above the level of the ground. This is called a sunk fence. Sometimes a wall is built against a perpendicular side of a ditch, and some very light fence is placed obliquely outwards near the top of it and level with the ground. When it is desired to keep off sheep or cattle from a lawn or pleasure-ground without obstructing the view of the park or the fields, this "ha ha" fence is very useful. A variety of light fences of iron have been invented for the same purpose: some of these are fixed and others moveable; some have upright pieces of cast-iron as posts let into oak blocks sunk in the ground, and rods of wrought-iron passing through holes in the uprights; some have wire for the same purpose. But the most common iron fence is composed of separate wrought-iron hurdles which may be moved at pleasure, and are kept together by screwed pins and nuts. They are merely stuck into the ground, for which purpose they have the ends of the uprights sharpened and bent so as to form a foot. By having this bend alternately on the right and on the left, they form a very firm basis when two hurdles are joined, the left foot of the one being strengthened by the right foot of the other. A very neat fence may be made at a small expense by using as posts pieces of young larch-trees four or five inches in diameter, with the bark on, and passing iron rods through holes bored in them at certain distances from each other. A fence of this kind five feet high, with five horizontal rods five-eighths of an inch in diameter, is an excellent protection against cattle, and takes up no ground.

The greatest objection to the ditch and bank fence is that it takes up so much room. If the ditch is three feet wide, the bank will be the same. There is a foot along the ditch, and another along the bank, | where the plough cannot reach; there are therefore eight feet lost. If the fields are squares of ten acres each, which is a convenient size, each field will have 1320 feet of fence in length, taking up 10,560 square feet of land, which is nearly a quarter of an acre. If to this be added the outer fences against roads, woods, or commons, it will be found that nearly one acre in twenty-five is taken up by banks and ditches. It is therefore a great saving to have a simple hedge without any ditch, wherever the land is well drained or has a porous subsoil.

ground, forming a series of St. Andrew's crosses: or with osier or hazel rods worked between stakes like basket-work, either horizontally and lightly or obliquely and closely. When the rods are split, the appearance is still neater and lighter. A variety of light iron fences made of slender rods or wire have been invented to protect flowergardens or shrubberies from the depredations of hares and rabbits, and their forms differ according to the fancy and taste of individuals. FEOD. [FEUDAL SYSTEM.]

FEOFFMENT (in law) is that mode of conveyance of lands or real hereditaments in possession where the land passes by force of livery in deed, that is, actual delivery of a portion of the land, as a twig or a turf; or where the parties being on the land the feoffor expressly gives it to the feoffee, &c.; or livery in law or within view, that is, where the parties being within sight of the land, the feoffor refers to it and gives it to the feoffee. A feoffment was the earliest mode of conveying real hereditaments in possession known to the common law. A grant [DEED; GRANT] was the mode used when lands subject to an existing estate of freehold, and when rents or other incorporeal hereditaments incapable from their nature of being the subjects of livery, were transferred. The term feoffment is evidently of feudal origin, its latinised form being feoffamentum, from feudare or infeudare, to infeoff, to give a feud. The mode of conveyance is however of much higher antiquity than the feudal system, the mode of transferring property by the delivery of possession being common to all nations in rude ages. (Gilb. Ten.' 386.) It prevailed amongst the Anglo-Saxons, who gave possession by the delivery of a twig or a turf, a mode still used in the admission of tenants of copyhold lands. The form of an ancient feoffment was singularly concise. There is a copy of one in the Appendix to the 2nd vol. of Blackstone's Commentaries,' No. 1.

Feoffments are now little used. The statute 8 & 9 Vict. c. 106, gave the last blow to a mode of conveyance already nearly obsolete. By this Act corporeal hereditaments are made to lie in grant as well as in livery. Thus actual or symbolical livery of seisin is unnecessary. See Blackst. Comm.' vol. ii. p. 311, Mr. Kerr's Ed.

The essential part of this mode of conveyance is the delivery of possession, or, as it is technically called, livery of seisin. In former times land was frequently conveyed without any deed or writing, by simple delivery. Subsequently it became the custom to have a written instrument called the charter or deed of feoffment [CHARTER], which declared the intention of the parties to the conveyance. But now, since the Statute of Frauds (29 Car. II. § 3), a written instrument is

necessary.

Livery of seisin was at first performed in the presence of the freeholders of the neighbourhood, vassals of the feudal lord; because any dispute relating to the freehold was decided before them as pares curiæ, equals of the court," of the lord of the fee. But afterwards, upon the decay of the feudal system, the livery was made in the presence of any witnesses; and where a deed was used, the livery was attested by those who were present at it.

When hedges are preferred, whether with or without a bank and ditch, they must be protected until they are of a certain age; and for this purpose there are particular kinds of fences. When there is a bank and double ditch, and the hedge is planted on the top of the bank, which makes by far the most efficient fence, there are usually two fences, one on each side of the bank. These fences are made of rough posts and rails mortised into the posts. The posts are a foot or 18 inches in the ground, and 2 feet 6 inches out. They are placed in the side of the bank, inclined somewhat outwards, about 4 feet 6 inches asunder. The two rails are let into mortices in the alternate posts, and nailed to the middle post, which is rather slighter. Thus a very formidable fence is made, which those who follow the diversion of hunting, and are not very well mounted, dread to encounter. If there is only a single ditch, it is usual to plant the hedge in the side of the bank a little above the level of the ground. To protect the young thorns from being cropped by the cattle, it is usual to make a dead hedge of stakes with bushes and brambles interwoven on the top of the bank and if there is pasture land on the side where the ditch is, a post and rail fence is put up along the edge of the ditch till the hedge is grown sufficiently not to be injured by the cattle. When branches of thorns and bushes only are used without stakes, it is called a foot hedge; when the branches are interwoven, and the top of the hedge is finished with rods wattled in, it is called a stake and edder hedge. Wherever neatness and durability are consulted, the stake and edder hedge is always preferred.

Besides these common fences, there are various others of a light or temporary nature, which are chiefly used in gardens and pleasuregrounds, and also when sheep only are to be kept out, or when a new quick hedge along an orchard or garden has been planted. A cheap and neat fence of this kind is made with stakes only planted in the

Livery in deed may be made by the feoffor or his attorney to the feoffee or his attorney. When lands lie in several counties, as many liveries are necessary; and where lands are out on lease, there must be as many liveries as there are tenants, for no livery can be made but by the consent of the tenant in possession, and the consent of one will not taken by the parties themselves, though lands in several counties may pass if they all be within view. Livery of this nature requires to be perfected by subsequent entry in the lifetime of the feoffor. Formerly, if the feoffee durst not enter for fear of his life or bodily harm, his claim, made yearly in the form prescribed by law, and called continual claim, would preserve his right. The security of property consequent upon the progress of civilisation having rendered this exception unnecessary, it was abolished by the Statute of Limitations, 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 27, § 11.

Since the Statute of Uses [BARGAIN; SALE; USES] introduced a more convenient mode of conveyance, feoffments have been rarely used in practice, and then rather for their supposed peculiar effects, as wrongful conveyances [CONVEYANCES], than as simple means of transferring property. It has been usual to make corporations convey their own estates by feoffment, in consequence of the supposition that a corporate body cannot stand seised to a use, though it seems that this doctrine only applies to the case of lands being conveyed to a corporation to the use of others. (Gilb. On Uses,' Sugd. Ed. 7 note.) Where the object to be attained was the destruction of contingent remainders or the discontinuance of an estate tail, or the acquirement of a fee for the purpose of levying a fine [FINE] or suffering a recovery [RECOVERY], a feoffment was usually employed. Such indeed was the efficacy attributed to this mode of conveyance by the earlier law writers, that where the feoffor was in possession, however unfounded his title might be, yet his feoffment passed a fee; voidable, it is true, by the rightiul owner, but which by the lapse of time might become good even as against him. Being thus supposed to operate as a disseisin to the rightful owner, it was thought till recently that a person entitled to a term of years might by making a feoffment to a stranger pass a fee to him, and then by levying a fine acquire a title by non-claim. This doctrine led to very considerable discussion, and though strictly accordant to the principle of the old law, yet being alike repugnant to the principles of justice and of common sense, it has been overruled,