Note furnished by Rudolf Leonhard, professor in the University of Breslau, and Kaiser Wilhelm professor in Columbia University, New York.

Gentlemen: You were so kind as to invite me to make some informal remarks about the reforms of criminal law.

I am a former judge of criminal trials and at present professor of Roman law, of which the criminal part has been restored in an admirable way by Theodor Mommsen. Therefore, I dare to utter my opinion also about criminal subjects.

Unfortunately my knowledge of the American criminal law is a very superficial one. But in spite of it I venture to make some general observations, although not based on a special study of your institutions.

There is a great difference between the criminal law of this country and the German law. Especially the national unity of German law is in striking contrast to your mutually exclusive jurisdictions of the single states on this subject. We have had a common written law for Germany from the sixteenth century. Our common law is only supplied by special statutes of the states.

This unity of law corresponds to the unity of social life and social connection between the parts of the empire in a high degree.

Secondly, we live in accordance with the rule: Nulla pcena sine lege, namely, sine scripto jure. This rule is not at all a matter of course, but a result of a historical development. It is not even perfectly satisfying, because the possibility of punishing offenders, whose crimes do not fall within the narrow frontiers of written texts, has some advantages. But we mean in our country, that these advantages must be sacrificed to a higher degree of civilization and especially to the sentiments of pity for the broad classes of people, who come into conflict with the criminal laws and who can expect and demand a specific definition of what is forbidden and what is permitted.