over to Yi-lang when he comes of age; and we order that Ming-wo be flogged for disregarding the dead and injuring the living. Note. per Li Wên-chang D. S. C. Relatives are the natural guardians of children left orphans, but if it is shown that they are unworthy of the trust, a testamentary disposition giving the guardianship to a stranger will be upheld; otherwise it would appear the trustee so appointed cannot resist their assuming the guardianship and taking possession of the property. Note also that the purchasers of the alienated property in this case are not disturbed, although it is admitted the land was improperly made away with. APPENDIX I EVOLUTION OF LAW OF MARRIAGE The records are necessarily imperfect, but there is little difficulty in evolving both the manner and the reason of the law. In the earliest times, utter savages, clothed in skins and dependent for food upon the fruits they could find in the forest, and the animals, scarce more bestial than themselves, they could entrap by craft or strength, each for himself wandered through the jungle. When two of opposite sex should chance to meet, the reproductive instinct, excited by the chance rencontre, would be satisfied without further formality and they would probably go their way either immediately or shortly afterwards. Some of the unions would be more permanent however, and in their duration the lesson of the advantage of mutual aid would soon be learnt. C. E. G. 39 |