reignty, unless otherwise impeded; and there is certainly no express reservation in the language of the document itself. It remains, however, to consider whether there may not have been some fundamental impediment in the way, and whether we can only account for the subsequent relations of the Duchy, upon the hypothesis that the dukedom was not merged in the sovereignty.

It has been already observed that the House of Oldenburg has always maintained, and wisely so, its hereditary title to the fief of Schleswig, granted, in 1326, to Count Gerard of Holstein, and it has also been stated in the course of the Historical Notice of the Duchies, that Christian of Oldenburg, as Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, and sister's son of Duke Adolph, acknowledged the Constitutio Waldemariana as an authentic article of an Instrument as ancient and valid as the erection of Count Gerard's original fief, and promised to respect it upon his election to the Crown of Denmark. That promise, of course, could only be binding upon him personally, inasmuch as the Crown of Denmark was elective, and he could not bind his successor to the crown. Still the Waldemarian Constitution was formally recognised on this occasion before his election, although the recognition might not for that reason bind a future successor to the Crown of Denmark. The hereditary tenure, however, of the elder line of the Oldenburg family has remained unbroken to the present day, and unless the ancient fief has been meanwhile expressly abolished in a similar manner with the ancient Counties of Holstein and Stormarn in 1474, this constitution may have continued to be

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a fundamental impediment to its consolidation with the Crown of Denmark.

Such a supposition is by no means inconsistent with a due regard for the interests of Denmark. The ancient privileges of counties palatine, as is well known, were granted to them because they bordered upon hostile countries, in order, to use the words of Blackstone," that the inhabitants having justice administered at home, might not be obliged to go out of the country, and leave it open to the enemy's incursions; and that the owners, being encouraged by so large an authority, might be the more watchful in its defence." As long, therefore, as the rights of the duchy did not vest in the political person of the King of Denmark, the privileges of the Duchy would not be merged in the Crown of Denmark, and the functions of the Chancery of the Duchy would not be abridged, although the dukedom might be possessed by the King of Denmark in his natural person. On referring, then, to the condition of the Duchy subsequent to the homage of 1721, we find that no change so to speak, ensued in respect of the exercise of Jura Regalia, or the administration of justice, or the government of the Duchy in respect of the privileged orders; that Christian V., after receiving homage, confirmed the privileges of the nobility, as far as they

*

* This observation, of course, only applies to the relations of the Duchy of Schleswig to the King-Duke. It may be added, to prevent any misunderstanding, that the administration and judicial system of Schleswig were now separated from that of Holstein. Schleswig had henceforth its own provincial administration, its own tribunal of appeal, and its own Noble-tribunal; and it was not until 1834, that the Duchies of Schleswig and of Holstein had again a common provincial administration, under the Central Boards at Copenhagen, and a common court of appeal.

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were not opposed to his sovereign and exclusive dominion, and the act of homage; that the title of Duke of Schleswig was not merged in the title of king, as appears from the patents of 1731, by which Christian VI. confirmed the privileges of the nobility of the Duchy of Schleswig in a separate instrument from that by which he confirmed those of the nobility of the Duchy of Holstein (Jensen und Hegewisch, Privilegien, p. 252.), and likewise from the patent of 1732, in reply to the memorial of the prelates and knights of the Duchy of Schleswig, as well as from various letterspatent down to the present time. It would thus seem to follow that the Duchy of Schleswig has never merged completely in the Crown of Denmark.

Such is the conclusion to which an examination of the more important public documents may reasonably lead us, namely, that the incorporation of the Duchy into the Crown of Denmark, in 1721, was a territorial incorporation, by which the ancient relations of the united Duchy of Schleswig were revived in their complete form, namely, the ducal rights united in the political person of one duke, and in the natural person of King Frederick IV., and the sovereignty in the political person of King Frederick IV., as King of Denmark and Lord Paramount of Schleswig.

Whichever supposition, therefore, be adopted, whether we hold that the family statute of succession of 1650 regulates the succession in the lordship of the Royal Duchy, and that the sovereignty having been ceded by the Crown of Denmark to Duke Frederick III. and his male descendants, likewise follows the order of the family statute of 1650; or that the later family statute, known as the Lex Regia of Denmark, was adopted by the Act of Homage of the

estates of Schleswig in 1721, and so made the law of succession in the Duchy, we arrive at the same result, inasmuch as on the extinction of the male descendants of Duke Frederick III., represented by the present reigning family of Denmark, the sovereignty will revert to the Crown of Denmark, of which the succession is undoubtedly regulated by the provisions of the Lex Regia. At the same time, the family statute of succession in the lordship will become inoperative by the extinction of the male line of Duke Frederick III., and there being no parties entitled to the reversion of the fief, if it still exists, it will escheat to the Crown of Denmark, and may be granted out de novo at its pleasure.

RELATIONS OF THE DUCHIES TO GERMANY. 103

CHAP. V.

THE RELATIONS OF THE DUCHIES TO THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION.

Ir will have been seen already, that the Duchy of Schleswig was a fief of the Crown of Denmark from its first creation as a duchy down to the year 1658, and that, subsequently to that period, it fluctuated between its ancient condition of feudal subordination and an acquired state of independence consequent on the sovereignty having been ceded by the Crown of Denmark to the Gottorp and Royal Dukes respectively. The division of the sovereignty continued after this manner down to 1721, when the King of Denmark, by right of conquest, united the Gottorp Duchy to the Royal Duchy, and henceforth exercised the sovereignty over the entire Duchy, in which exercise of sovereignty, as well as ducal dominion on the part of the Kings of Denmark and their successors, the representative of the Gottorp Dukes formally acquiesced in 1773. So far it is clear that the Duchy of Schleswig has never had any direct connection with the German Empire.

Holstein, on the other hand, has been, from time immemorial, a fief of Germany. In 1307 it was granted, conjointly with Stormarn, to the Counts of Schauenburg. In 1474 its earlier constitution as a County was abrogated by the Emperor, and it was erected, in conjunction with Stormarn and the incorporated Ditmarshes, into a Duchy, and granted anew to Christian of Oldenburg. From that time down to