Roby  by  German  scholars,  and  probably  would  have  enjoyed
some  of  Dr.  Roby's  not  unkindly  criticism  of  certain  modern
German  critical  methods.  Beside  Roby's  work  must  be  placed
the  tireless  labours  of  the  immortal  Mommsen  and  his  school  in
unravelling  the  texts  of  "  law-books,  authors,  and  inscriptions."
No  doubt  vast  fields  he  open  for  future  scholars  in  the  period
behind  the  Antonines,  though  much  work  has  already  been  done
in  those  dark  ages.  And,  again,  the  field  of  Roman  law  in  the
Middle  Ages  calls  for  workers.  Maitland's  brilliant  treatment
of  Bracton  shows  how  much  remains  to  be  done  to  bring  into
cultivation  the  immense  field  over  which  Savigny  cast  his
measuring-rod.  This  is  not  the  place  in  which  even  to  indicate
the  area  of  work,  or  to  mention  the  work  now  hi  progress.  But
that  work  and  the  appreciation  of  its  intensity  and  its  range  by
great  modern  scholars  show  how  thorough  and  how  sound  were
the  principles  that  Savigny  laid  down.  His  actual  work  was
titanic,  but  it  is  plain  enough  (now  that  he  has  given  us  the
guiding  principle)  that  he  but  threw  open  an  almost  illimitable
domain  of  investigation.  As  it  was  with  Newton  and  Darwin,
so  was  it  with  Savigny.
