[3] The title of consul was borne by the chief municipal officers of
several cities of the south of France during the middle ages and up
to the Revolution. The name was not due to their being the
successors of the chiefs of the Roman _municipia_. They were members
of the governing body known as the _consulat_, and in Latin
documents are sometimes styled _consiliarii_, i.e. councillors. The
_consulat_ itself is not traceable beyond the 12th century.
[2] Particular quarters of mercantile cities were assigned to
foreign traders and were placed under the jurisdiction of their own
magistrates, variously styled syndics, provosts (_praepositi_),
echevins (_scabini_), &c., who had power to fine or to expel from
the quarter. The Hanseatic League (q.v.), particularly, had numerous
settlements of this kind, the earliest being the Steelyard at
London, established in the 13th century.
[3] i.e. as regards the organization of the system. Consuls, or
consuls-general, of other countries have sometimes a diplomatic or
quasi-diplomatic status. Consuls-general charges d'affaires, e.g.,
rank as diplomatic agents. Of these the most notable is the British
agent and consul-general in Egypt, whose position is unique. The
diplomatic agent of Belgium at Buenos Aires, e.g., is
minister-resident and consul-general, and the minister of Ecuador in
London is consul-general charge d'affaires.
[4] See also instructions to consuls prepared by the Board of Trade
and approved by the secretary of state for foreign affairs.
"CONSULATE OF THE SEA," a celebrated collection of maritime customs and
ordinances (see also Sea Laws) in the Catalan language, published at
Barcelona in the latter part of the 15th century. Its proper title is
_The Book of the Consulate_, or in Catalan, _Lo Libre de Consolat_, the
name being derived from the fact that it embodied the rules of law
followed in the maritime cities of the Mediterranean coast by the
commercial judges known generally as consuls (q.v.). The earliest extant
edition of the work, which was printed at Barcelona in 1494, is without
a title-page or frontispiece, but it is described by the above-mentioned
title in the epistle dedicatory prefixed to the table of contents. The
only known copy of this edition is preserved in the National Library in
Paris. The epistle dedicatory states that the work is an amended version
of the _Book of the Consulate_, compiled by Francis Celelles with the
assistance of numerous shipmasters and merchants well versed in maritime
affairs. According to a statement made by Capmany in his _Codigo de los
costumbras maritimas de Barcelona_, published at Madrid in 1791, there
was extant to his knowledge in the last century a more ancient edition
of the _Book of the Consulate_, printed in semi-Gothic characters, which
he believed to be of a date prior to 1484. This is the earliest period
to which any historical record of the _Book of the Consulate_ being in
print can be traced back. There are, however, two Catalan MSS. preserved
in the National Library in Paris, the earliest of which, being MS.
Espagnol 124, contains the two first treatises which are printed in the
_Book of the Consulate_ of 1494, and which are the most ancient portion
of its contents, written in a hand of the 14th century, on paper of that
century. The subsequent parts of this MS. are on paper of the 15th
century, but there is no document of a date more recent than 1436. The
later of the two MSS., being MS. Espagnol 56, is written throughout on
paper of the 15th century, and in a hand of that century, and it
purports, from a certificate on the face of the last leaf, to have been
executed under the superintendence of Peter Thomas, a notary public, and
the scribe of the Consulate of the Sea at Barcelona.
The edition of 1494, which is justly regarded as the _editio princeps_
of the _Book of the Consulate_, contains, in the first place, a code of
procedure issued by the kings of Aragon for the guidance of the courts
of the consuls of the sea, in the second place, a collection of ancient
customs of the sea, and thirdly, a body of ordinances for the government
of cruisers of war. A colophon at the end of these ordinances informs
the readers that "the book commonly called the _Book of the Consulate_
ends here"; after which there follows a document known by the title of
_The Acceptations_, which purports to record that the previous chapters
and ordinances had been approved by the Roman people in the 11th
century, and by various princes and peoples in the 12th and 13th
centuries. Capmany was the first person to question the authenticity of
this document in his _Memorias historicas sobre la marina, &c., de
Barcelona_, published at Madrid in 1779-1792. Pardessus and other
writers on maritime law followed up the inquiry in the 19th century, and
have conclusively shown that the document, whatever may have been its
origin, has no proper reference to the _Book of the Consulate_, and is,
in fact, of no historical value whatsoever. The paging of the edition of
1494 ceases with this document, at the end of which is the printer's
colophon, reciting that "the work was completed on the 14th of July
1494, at Barcelona, by Pere Posa, priest and printer." The remainder of
the volume consists of what may be regarded as an appendix to the
original _Book of the Consulate_. This appendix contains various
maritime ordinances of the kings of Aragon and of the councillors of the
city of Barcelona, ranging over a period from 1340 to 1484. It is
printed apparently in the same type with the preceding part of the
volume. The original _Book of the Consulate_, coupled with this
appendix, constitutes the work which has obtained general circulation in
Europe under the title of _The Consulate of the Sea_, and which in the
course of the 16th century was translated into the Castilian, the
Italian, and the French languages. The Italian translation, printed at
Venice in 1549 by Jean Baptista Pedrezano, was the version which
obtained the largest circulation in the north of Europe, and led many
jurists to suppose the work to have been of Italian origin. In the next
following century the work was translated into Dutch by Westerven, and
into German by Engelbrecht, and it is also said to have been translated
into Latin.
An excellent translation into French of "The Customs of the Sea,"
which are the most valuable portion of the _Book of the Consulate_,
was published by Pardessus in the second volume of his _Collection
des lois maritimes_ (Paris, 1834), under the title of "La Compilation
connue sous le nom de consulat de la mer." See introduction, by Sir
Travers Twiss, to the _Black Book of the Admiralty_ (London, 1874),
which in the appendix to vol. iii. contains his translation of "The
Customs of the Sea," with the Catalan text. (T. T.)
CONSUMPTION (Lat. _consumere_), literally, the act of consuming or
destroying. Thus the word is popularly applied to phthisis, a "wasting
away" of the lungs due to tuberculosis (q.v.). In economics the word has
a special significance as a technical term. It has been defined as the
destruction of utilities, and thus opposed to "production," which is the
creation of utilities, a utility in this connexion being anything which
satisfies a desire or serves a purpose. Consumption may be either
productive or unproductive; productive where it is a means directly or
indirectly to the satisfaction of any economic want, unproductive when
it is devoted to pleasures or luxuries. Its place in the science of
economics, and its close relation with production, are treated of in
every text-book, but special reference may be made to W. Roscher,
_Nationaloekonomie_, 1883, and G. Schoenberg, _Handbuch d. polit.
Oekonomie_, 1890-1891.
CONSUS, an ancient Italian deity, originally a god of agriculture. The
time at which his festival was held (after harvest and seed-sowing), the
nature of its ceremonies and amusements, his altar at the end of the
Circus Maximus always covered with earth except on such occasions, all
point to his connexion with the earth. In accordance with this, the name
has been derived from _condere_ (= Condius, as the "keeper" of grain or
the "hidden" god, whose life-producing influence works in the depths of
the earth). Another etymology is from _conserere_ ("sow," cf. Ops Consiva
and her festival Opiconsivia). Amongst the ancients (Livy i. 9; Dion.
Halic. ii. 31) Census was most commonly identified with [Greek: Poseidon
Hippios] (Neptunus Equester), and in later Latin poets Consus is used
for Neptunus, but this idea was due to the horse and chariot races which
took place at his festival; otherwise, the two deities have nothing in
common. According to another view, he was the god of good counsel, who
was said to have "advised" Romulus to carry off the Sabine women (Ovid,
_Fasti_, iii. 199) when they visited Rome for the first celebration of
his festival (Consualia). In later times, with the introduction of Greek
gods into the Roman theological system, Consus, who had never been the
object of special reverence, sank to the level of a secondary deity,
whose character was rather abstract and intellectual.
His festival was celebrated on the of August and the 15th of December.
On the former date, the flamen Quirinalis, assisted by the vestals,
offered sacrifice, and the pontifices presided at horse and chariot
races in the circus. It was a day of public rejoicing; all kinds of
rustic amusements took place, amongst them running on ox-hides rubbed
with oil (like the Gr. [Greek: haskoliasmos]). Horses and mules, crowned
with garlands, were given rest from work. A special feature of the games
in the circus was chariot racing, in which mules, as the oldest draught
beasts, took the place of horses. The origin of these games was
generally attributed to Romulus; but by some they were considered an
imitation of the Arcadian [Greek: hippokrateia] introduced by Evander.
There was a sanctuary of Consus on the Aventine, dedicated by L.
Papirius Cursor in 272, in early times wrongly identified with the altar
in the circus.
See W. W. Fowler, _The Roman Festivals_ (1899); G. Wissowa, _Religion
und Kultus der Roemer_ (1902); Preller-Jordan, _Roemische Mythologie_
(1881).
CONTANGO, a Stock Exchange term for the rate of interest paid by a
"bull" who has bought stock for the rise and does not intend to pay for
it when the Settlement arrives. He arranges to carry over or continue
his bargain, and does so by entering into a fresh bargain with his
seller, or some other party, by which he sells the stock for the
Settlement and buys it again for the next, the price at which the
bargain is entered being called the making-up price. The rate that he
pays for this accommodation, which amounts to borrowing the money
involved until the next Settlement, is called the contango.
CONTARINI, the name of a distinguished Venetian family, who gave to the
republic eight doges and many other eminent citizens. The story of their
descent from the Roman family of Cotta, appointed prefects of the Reno
valley (whence Cotta Reni or Conti del Reno), is probably a legend. One
Mario Contarini was among the twelve electors of the doge Paulo Lucio
Anafesto in 697. Domenico Contarini, elected doge in 1043, subjugated
rebellious Dalmatia and recaptured Grado from the patriarch of Aquileia.
He died in 1070. Jacopo was doge from 1275 to 1280. Andrea was elected
doge in 1367, and during his reign the war of Chioggia took place
(1380); he was the first to melt down his plate and mortgage his
property for the benefit of the state. Other Contarini doges were:
Francesco (1623-1624), Niccolo (1630-1631), who built the church of the
Salute, Carlo (1655-1656), during whose reign the Venetians gained the
naval victory of the Dardanelles, Domenico (1659-1675) and Alvise
(1676-1684). There were at one time no less than eighteen branches of
the family; one of the most important was that of Contarini dallo Zaffo
or di Giaffa, who had been invested with the countship of Jaffa in Syria
for their services to Caterina Cornaro, queen of Cyprus; another was
that of Contarini degli Scrigni (of the coffers), so called on account
of their great wealth. Many members of the family distinguished
themselves in the service of the republic, in the wars against the
Turks, and no less than seven Contarini fought at Lepanto. One Andrea
Contarini was beheaded in 1430 for having wounded the doge Francesco
Foscari (q.v.) on the nose. Other members of the house were famous as
merchants, prelates and men of letters; among these we may mention
Cardinal Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542), and Marco Contarini (1631-1689),
who was celebrated as a patron of music and collected at his villa of
Piazzola a large number of valuable musical MSS., now in the Marciana
library at Venice. The family owned many palaces in various parts of
Venice, and several streets still bear its name.
See J. Fontana, "Sulla patrizia famiglia Contarini," in _Il
Gondoliere_ (1843). (L. V.*)
CONTAT, LOUISE FRANCOISE (1760-1813), French actress, made her _debut_
at the Comedie Francaise in 1766 as Atalide in _Bajazet_. It was in
comedy, however, that she made her first success, as Suzanne in
Beaumarchais's _Mariage de Figaro_; and in several minor character
parts, which she raised to the first importance, and as the soubrette in
the plays of Moliere and Marivaux, she found opportunities exactly
fitted to her talents. She retired in 1809 and married de Parny, nephew
of the poet. Her sister Marie Emilie Contat (1769-1846), an admirable
soubrette, especially as the pert servant drawn by Moliere and de
Regnard, made her _debut_ in 1784, and retired in 1815.
CONTE, literally a "story," derived from the Fr. _conter_, to narrate,
through low Lat. and Provencal forms _contare_ and _comtar_. This word,
although not recognized by the _New English Dictionary_ as an English
term, is yet so frequently used in English literary criticisms that some
definition of it seems to be demanded. A _conte_, in French, differs
from a _recit_ or a _rapport_ in the element of style; it may be
described as an anecdote told with deliberate art, and in this
introduction of art lies its peculiar literary value. According to
Littre, there is no fundamental difference between a _conte_ and a
_roman_, and all that can be said is that the _conte_ is the generic
term, covering long stories and short alike, whereas the _roman_ (or
novel) must extend to a certain length. But if this is the primitive and
correct signification of the word, it is certain that modern criticism
thinks of a _conte_ essentially as a short story, and as a short story
exclusively occupied in illustrating one set of ideas or one disposition
of character. As early as the 13th century, the word is used in French
literature to describe an anecdote thus briefly and artistically told,
in prose or verse. The fairy-tales of Perrault and the apologues of La
Fontaine were alike spoken of as _contes_, and stories of peculiar
extravagance were known as _contes bleus_, because they were issued to
the common public in coarse blue paper covers. The most famous _contes_
in the 18th century were those of Voltaire, who has been described as
having invented the _conte philosophique_. But those brilliant stories,
_Candide_, _Zadig_, _L'Ingenu_, _La Princess de Babylone_ and _Le
Taureau blanc_, are not, in the modern sense, _contes_ at all. The
longer of these are _romans_, the shorter _nouvelles_, not one has the
anecdotical unity required by a _conte_. The same may be said of those
of Marmontel, and of the insipid imitations of Oriental fancy which were
so popular at the close of the 18th century. The most perfect recent
writer of _contes_ is certainly Guy de Maupassant, and his celebrated
anecdote called "Boule de suif" may be taken as an absolutely perfect
example of this class of literature, the precise limitations of which it
is difficult to define. (E. G.)
CONTE, NICOLAS JACQUES (1755-1805), French mechanical genius, chemist
and painter, was born at Aunou-sur-Orne, near Sees, on the 4th of August
1755, of a family of poor farm labourers. At the age of fourteen he
displayed precocious artistic talent in a series of religious panels,
remarkably fine in colour and composition, for the principal hospital of
Sees, where he was employed to help the gardener. With the advice of
Greuze he took up portrait painting, quickly became the fashion, and
laid by in a few years a fair competency. From that time he gave free
rein to his passion for the mechanical arts and scientific studies. He
attended the lectures of J. A. C. Charles, L. N. Vaquelin and J. B.
Leroy, and exhibited before the Academy of Science an hydraulic machine
of his own invention of which the model was the subject of a flattering
report, and was placed in Charles's collection. The events of the
Revolution soon gave him an opportunity for a further display of his
inventive faculty. The war with England deprived France of plumbago; he
substituted for it an artificial substance obtained from a mixture of
graphite and clay, and took out a patent in 1795 for the form of pencil
which still bears his name. At this time he was associated with Monge
and Berthollet in experiments in connexion with the inflation of
military balloons, was conducting the school for that department of the
engineer corps at Meudon, was perfecting the methods of producing
hydrogen in quantity, and was appointed (1796) by the Directory to the
command of all the aerostatic establishments. He was at the head of the
newly created Conservatoire des arts et metiers, and occupied himself
with experiments in new compositions of permanent colours, and in 1798
constructed a metal-covered barometer for measuring comparative heights,
by observing the weight of mercury issuing from the tube. Summoned by
Bonaparte to take part as chief of the aerostatic corps in the
expedition to Egypt, he considerably extended his field of activity, and
for three years and a half was, to quote Berthollet, "the soul of the
colony." The disaster of Aboukir and the revolt of Cairo had caused the
loss of the greater part of the instruments and munitions taken out by
the French. Conte, who, as Monge says, "had every science in his head
and every art in his hands," and whom the First Consul described as
"good at everything," seemed to be everywhere at once and triumphed over
apparently insurmountable difficulties. He made, in an almost
uncivilized country, utensils, tools and machinery of every sort from
simple windmills to stamps for minting coin. Thanks to his activity and
genius, the expedition was provided with bread, cloth, arms and
munitions of war; the engineers with the exact tools of their trade; the
surgeons with operating instruments. He made the designs, built the
models, organized and supervised the manufacture, and seemed to be able
to invent immediately anything required. On his return to France in 1802
he was commissioned by the minister of the interior, Chaptal, to
superintend the publication of the great work of the commission on
Egypt, and an engraving machine of his construction materially shortened
this task, which, however, he did not live to see finished. He died at
Paris on the 6th of December 1805. Napoleon had included him in his
first promotions to the Legion of Honour. A bronze statue was erected to
his memory in 1852 at Sees, by public subscription.
CONTEMPT OF COURT, in English law, any disobedience or disrespect to the
authority or privileges of a legislative body, or interference with the
administration of a court of justice.
1. _The High Court of Parliament._ Each of the two houses of Parliament
has by the law and custom of parliament power to protect its freedom,
dignity and authority against insult, disregard or violence by resort to
its own process and not to ordinary courts of law and without having its
process interfered with by those courts. The nature and limits of this
authority to punish for contempt have been the subject of not infrequent
conflict with the courts of law, from the time when Lord Chief Justice
Holt threatened to commit the speaker for attempting to stop the trial
of _Ashby_ v. _White_ (1701), as a breach of privilege, to the cases of
_Burdett_ v. _Abbott_ (1810), _Stockdale_ v. _Hansard_ and _Howard_ v.
_Gosset_ (1842, 1843), and _Bradlaugh_ v. _Gosset_ (1834). It is now the
accepted view that the power of either House to punish contempt is
exceptional and derived from ancient usage, and does not flow from their
being courts of record. Orders for committal by the Commons are
effectual only while the House sits; orders by the Lords may be for a
time specified, in which event prorogation does not operate as a
discharge of the offender. It was at one time considered that the
privilege of committing for contempt was inherent in every deliberative
body invested with authority by the constitution, and consequently that
colonial legislative bodies had by the nature of their functions the
power to commit for contempt. But in _Kielley_ v. _Carson_ (1843; 4
Moore, P.C. 63) it was held that the power belonged to parliament by
ancient usage only and not on the theory above stated, and in each
colony it is necessary to inquire how far the colonial legislature has
acquired, by order in council or charter or from the imperial
legislature, power to punish breach of privilege by imprisonment or
committal for contempt. This power has in some cases been given
directly, in others by authority to make laws and regulations under
sanctions like those enforced by the Houses of the imperial parliament.
In the case of Nova Scotia the provincial assembly has power to give
itself by statute authority to commit for contempt (_Fielding_ v.
_Thomas_, 1896; L.R.A.C. 600). In _Barton_ v. _Taylor_ (1886; 11 A.C.
197) the competence of the legislative assembly of New South Wales to
make standing orders punishing contempt was recognized to exist under
the colonial constitution, but the particular standing orders under
consideration are held not to cover the acts which had been punished.
(See May, _Parl. Pr._, 10th ed., 1896; Anson, _Law and Custom of the
Constitution_, 3rd ed., 1897.)
2. _Courts of Justice._ The term contempt of court, when used with
reference to the courts or persons to whom the exercise of the judicial
functions of the crown has been delegated, means insult offered to such
court or person by deliberate defiance of its authority, disobedience to
its orders, interruption of its proceedings or interference with the due
course of justice, or any conduct calculated or tending to bring the
authority or administration of the law into disrespect or disregard, or
to interfere with or prejudice parties or witnesses during the
litigation. The ingenuity of the judges and of those who are concerned
to defeat or defy justice have rendered contempt almost Protean in its
character. But for practical purposes most, if not all, contempts fall
within the classification which follows:--
(a) Disobedience to the judgment or order of a court commanding the
doing or abstaining from a particular act, e.g. an order to execute a
conveyance of property or an order on a person in a fiduciary capacity
to pay into court trust moneys as to which he is an accounting party.
This includes disobedience by the members of a local authority to a
_mandamus_ to do some act which they are by law bound to do; and
proceedings for contempt have been taken in the case of guardians of the
poor who have refused to enforce the Vaccination Acts, e.g. at Keighley
and Leicester, and of town councillors who have refused to comply with
an order to take specified measures to drain their borough (e.g.
Worcester). This process for compelling obedience is in substance a
process of civil execution for the benefit of the injured party rather
than a criminal process for punishing the disobedience; and for purposes
of appeal orders dealing with these forms of contempt have hitherto been
treated as civil proceedings.
(b) Disobedience by inferior judges or magistrates to the lawful order
of a superior court. Such disobedience, if amounting to wilful
misconduct, would usually give ground for amotion or removal from
office, or for prosecution or indictment or information for misconduct
(Archbold, _Criminal Pleading_, 147, 23rd ed.).
(c) Disobedience or misconduct by executive officers of the law, e.g.
sheriffs and their bailiffs or gaolers. The contempt consists in not
complying with the terms of writs or warrants sent for execution. For
instance, a judge of assize having ordered the court to be cleared on
account of some disturbance, the high sheriff issued a placard
protesting against "this unlawful proceeding," and "prohibiting his
officer from aiding and abetting any attempt to bar out the public from
free access to the court." The lord chief justice of England, sitting in
the other court, summoned the sheriff before him and fined him L500 for
the contempt, and L500 more for persisting in addressing the grand jury
in court, after he had been ordered to desist. A sheriff who fails to
attend the assizes is liable to severe fine as being in contempt
(Oswald, 51). And in Harvey's case (1884, 26 Ch. D. 644) steps were
taken to attach a sheriff who had failed to execute a writ of attachment
for contempt of court in the mistaken belief that he was not entitled to
break open doors to take the person in contempt. The Sheriffs Act 1887
enumerates many instances in which misconduct is punishable under that
act, but reserves to superior courts of record power to deal with such
misconduct as a contempt (s. 29).
(d) Misconduct or neglect of duty by subordinate officials of courts of
justice, including solicitors. In these cases it is more usual for the
superior authorities to remove the offender from office, or for
disciplinary proceedings to be instituted by the Law Society. But in the
case of an unqualified person assuming to act as a solicitor or in the
case of breach of an undertaking given by a solicitor to the court,
proceedings for contempt are still taken.
(e) Misconduct by parties, jurors or witnesses. Jurors who fail to
attend in obedience to a jury summons and witnesses who fail to attend
on subpoena are liable to punishment for contempt, and parties, counsel
or solicitors who practise a fraud on the court are similarly liable.
(f) Contempt in _facie curiae_. "Some contempts," says Blackstone, "may
arise in the face of the court, as by rude and contumelious behaviour,
by obstinacy, perverseness or prevarication, by breach of the peace, or
any wilful disturbance whatever"; in other words, direct insult to or
interference with a sitting court is treated as contempt of the court.
It is immaterial whether the offender is juror, party, witness, counsel,
solicitor or a stranger to the case at hearing, and occasionally it is
found necessary to punish for contempt persons under trial for felony or
misdemeanour if by violent language or conduct they interrupt the
proceedings at their trial. Judges have even treated as contempt the
continuance outside the court-house after warning of a noise sufficient
to disturb the proceedings of the court; and in Victoria Chief Justice
Higginbotham committed for contempt a builder who persisted after
warning in building operations close to the central criminal court in
Melbourne, which interfered with the due conduct of the business of the
sittings.
(g) Attempts to prevent or interfere with the due course of justice,
whether made by a person interested in a particular case or by an
outsider. This branch of contempt takes many forms, such as frauds on
the court by justices, solicitors or counsel (e.g. by fraudulently
circularizing shareholders of a company against which a winding-up
petition had been filed), tampering with witnesses by inducing them
through threats or persuasion not to attend or to withhold evidence or
to commit perjury, threatening judge or jury or attempting to bribe them
and the like; and also by "scandalizing the court itself" by abusing
the parties concerned in a pending case, or by creating prejudice
against such persons before their cause is heard.
Invectives against judges.
The _locus classicus_ on the subject of contempt by attacks on judges is
a judgment prepared by Sir Eardley-Wilmot in the case of an application
for an attachment against J. Almon in 1765, for publishing a pamphlet
libelling the court of king's bench. The judgment was not actually
delivered as the case was settled, but has long been accepted as
correctly stating the law. Sir Eardley-Wilmot said that the offence of
libelling judges in their judicial capacity is the most proper case for
an attachment, for the "arraignment of the justice of the judges is
arraigning the king's justice; it is an impeachment of his wisdom and
goodness in the choice of his judges; and excites in the minds of the
people a general dissatisfaction with all judicial determinations, and
indisposes their minds to obey them. To be impartial, and _to be
universally thought_ so, are both absolutely necessary for the giving
justice that free, open and uninterrupted current which it has for many
ages found all over this kingdom, and which so eminently distinguishes
and exalts it above all nations upon the earth." Again, "the
constitution has provided very apt and proper remedies for correcting
and rectifying the involuntary mistakes of judges, and for punishing and
removing them for any perversion of justice. But if their authority is
to be trampled on by pamphleteers and news-writers, and the people are
to be told that the power given to the judges for their protection is
prostituted to their destruction, the court may retain its power some
little time, but I am sure it will eventually lose all its authority."
The object of the discipline enforced by the court by proceedings for
contempt of court is not now, if it ever was, to vindicate the personal
dignity of the judges or to protect them from insult as individuals, but
to vindicate the dignity and authority of the court itself and to
prevent acts tending to obstruct the due course of justice. The question
whether a personal invective against judges should be dealt with _brevi
manu_ by the court attacked, or by proceedings at the instance of the
attorney-general by information or indictment for a libel on the
administration of justice or on the judge attacked, or should be dealt
with by a civil action for damages, depends on the nature and occasion
of the attack on the judge.
There has at times been a disposition by judges in colonial courts to
use the process of the court to punish criticisms on their acts by
counsel or parties or even outsiders, which the privy council has been
prone to discourage. For instance in a Nova Scotia case a barrister was
suspended from practice for writing to the chief justice of the province
a letter relating to a case in which the barrister was suitor. The privy
council while considering the letter technically a contempt, held the
punishment inappropriate. In _Macleod_ v. _St Aubyn_ (1899, A.C. 549) it
was said that proceedings for scandalizing the court itself were
obsolete in England. But in 1900 the king's bench division, following
the Almon case, summarily punished a scurrilous personal attack on a
judge of assize with reference to his remarks in a concluded ease,
published immediately after the conclusion of the case (_R._ v. _Gray_,
1900, 2 Q.B. 36). The same measure may be meted out to those who publish
invectives against judges or juries with the object of creating
suspicion or contempt as to the administration of justice. But the
existence of this power does not militate against the right of the press
to publish full reports of trials and judgments or to make with
fairness, good faith, candour and decency, comments and criticisms on
what passed at the trial and on the correctness of the verdict or the
judgment. To impute corruption is said to go beyond the limits of fair
criticism. Shortt (_Law relating to Works of Literature_) states the law
to be that the temperate and respectful discussion of judicial
determination is not prohibited, but mere invective and abuse, and still
more the imputation of false, corrupt and dishonest motives is
punishable. In an information granted in 1788 against the corporation of
Yarmouth for having entered upon their books an order "stating that the
assembly were sensible that Mr W. (against whom an action had been
brought for malicious prosecution, and a verdict for L3000 returned,
which the court refused to disturb) was actuated by motives of public
justice, of preserving the rights of the corporation to their admiralty
jurisdiction, and of supporting the honour and credit of the chief
magistrate," Mr Justice Butler said, "The judge and jury who tried the
case, confirmed by the court of common pleas, have said that instead of
his having been actuated by motives of public justice, or by any motives
which should influence the actions of an honest man, he had been
actuated by malice. These opinions are not reconcilable; if the one be
right the other must be wrong. It is therefore a direct insinuation that
the court had judged wrong in all they have done in this case, and is
therefore clearly a libel on the administration of justice."
The exact limits of the power to punish for contempt of court in respect
of statements or comments on the action of judges and juries, or with
reference to _pending_ proceedings, have been the subject of some
controversy, owing to the difficulty of reconciling the claims of the
press to liberty and of the public to free discussion of the proceedings
of courts of justice with the claims of the judges to due respect and of
the parties to litigation that their causes should not be prejudiced
before trial by outside interference. As the law now stands it is
permissible to publish contemporaneous _reports_ of the proceedings in
cases pending in any court (Law of Libel Amendment Act 1888, s. 3),
unless the proceedings have taken place in private (_in camera_), or the
court has in the interests of justice prohibited any report until the
case is concluded, a course now rarely, if ever, adopted. But it is not
permissible to make any comments on a pending case calculated to
interfere with the due course of justice in the case, nor to publish
statements about the cause or the parties calculated to have that
effect. This rule applies even when the case has been tried and the jury
has disagreed if a second trial is in prospect. Applications are
frequently made to commit proprietors and editors who comment too freely
or who undertake the task of trying in their newspapers a pending case.
The courts are now slow to move unless satisfied that the statements or
comments may seriously affect the course of justice, e.g. by reaching
the jurors who have to try the case.
The difference between pending and decided cases has been frequently
recognized by the courts. What would be a fair comment in a decided case
may tend to influence the mind of the judge or the jury in a case
waiting to be heard, and will accordingly be punished as a contempt. In
_Tichborne_ v. _Mostyn_ the publisher of a newspaper was held to have
committed a contempt by printing in his paper extracts from affidavits
in a pending suit, with comments upon them. In the case of _R._ v.
_Castro_ it was held that after a true bill has been found, and the
indictment removed into the court of queen's bench, and a day fixed for
trial, the case was pending; and it was a contempt of court to address
public meetings, alleging that the defendant was not guilty, that there
was a conspiracy against the defendant, and that he could not have a
fair trial; and the court ordered the parties to answer for their
contempt. In the case of the Moat Farm murder (1903) the high court
punished as contempt a series of articles published in a newspaper while
the preliminary inquiry was proceeding and before the case went to a
jury (_R._ v. _Parker_, 1903, 2 K.B. 432). The like course was followed
in 1905 in the case of statements made in a Welsh newspaper about a
woman awaiting trial for attempted murder (_R._ v. _Davies_, 1906, 1
K.B. 32); and in the case of the _Weekly Dispatch_ in 1902 (_R._ v.
_Tibbits and Windust_, 1 K.B. 77), two journalists were tried on
indictment, and held to have been rightly convicted, for conspiring to
prevent the course of justice by publishing matter calculated to
interfere with the fair trial of persons who were under accusation.
Courts having jurisdiction.
"In the superior courts the power of committing for contempt is inherent
in their constitution, has been coeval with their original institution
and has been always exercised" (Oswald, _On Contempt_, 3). The high
court in which these courts are merged is the only court which has a
general jurisdiction to deal summarily with all forms of contempt. Each
division of that court deals with the particular contempts arising with
reference to proceedings before the division; but the king's bench
division, in the exercise of the supervisory authority inherited from
the old court of king's bench as _custos morum_, also from time to time
deals with acts constituting interference with justice in other inferior
courts whether of record or not. The nature and limits of this
jurisdiction after much discussion have been defined by decisions in
1903 and 1905 in attempts to try by newspapers cases under inquiry by
justices or awaiting trial at assizes or quarter sessions. The exercise
of this authority in the king's bench division, being in a criminal
cause or matter, is not the subject of appeal to any higher court.
Inferior courts of record have, as a general rule, power to punish only
those contempts which are committed _in facie curiae_ or consist in
disobedience to the lawful orders or judgments of the court. For
instance, a county court may summarily punish persons who insult the
judge or any officer of the court or any juror or witness, or wilfully
interrupt the proceedings, or misbehave in the court-house (County Court
Act 1888, s. 162), and may also attack persons who having means refuse
to comply with an order to pay money, or refuse to comply with an order
to deliver up a specific chattel or disobey an injunction. A court of
quarter sessions has at common law a like power as to contempts _in
facie curiae_ and is said to have power to punish its officials for
contempt in non-attendance or neglect of duty.
Punishment.
Contempt of court is a misdemeanour and is punishable by fine and
imprisonment or either at discretion. The offence may be tried
summarily, or may be prosecuted on information or on indictment as was
done in the case of the _Weekly Dispatch_ already mentioned. The
prerogative of pardon extends to all contempts of court which are dealt
with by a sentence of clearly punitive character; but it is doubtful
whether it extends to committals for disobedience to orders made in aid
of the execution of a civil judgment.
Contempt is usually dealt with summarily by the court contemned in the
case of contempt _in facie curiae_. The offender may be instantly
apprehended and without further proof or examination fined or sent to
prison. In the case of other contempts the High Court not only can deal
with contempts affecting itself, but can also intervene summarily to
protect inferior courts from contempts. This jurisdiction was asserted
and exercised in the Moat Farm case (1903) and the _South Wales Post_
case (1905) already mentioned.
Except in cases of contempt _in facie curiae_ evidence on oath as to the
alleged contempt must be laid before the court, and application made for
the "committal" or "attachment" of the offender. The differences between
the two modes are technical rather than substantial.
The procedure for dealing with contempt of court varies somewhat
according as the contempt consists in disobeying an order of the High
Court made in a civil cause, or consists in interference with the course
of justice by persons not present in court nor parties to the cause. In
the first class of cases the court proceeds by order of committal or
giving leave to issue writ of attachment. In either case the person said
to be in contempt must have full notice of the proposed motion and of
the grounds on which he is said to be in contempt; and the rules
regulating such proceedings must be strictly complied with (_R._ v.
_Tuck_, 1906, 2 Ch. 692). In proceedings on the crown side of the king's
bench division it is still usual to apply in the first place for a rule
nisi for leave to attach the alleged offender who is given an
opportunity of explaining, excusing or justifying the incriminated acts.
It is essential that before punishment the alleged offender should have
had full notice as to the specific offence charged and opportunity of
answering to it. The king's bench procedure is that generally used for
interference with the due course of criminal justice or disobedience to
prerogative writs such as _mandamus_.
An order of committal is an order in execution specifying the nature of
the detention to be suffered, or the penalty to be paid. The process of
attachment merely brings the accused into court; he is then required to
answer on oath interrogatories administered to him, so that the court
may be better informed of the circumstances of the contempt. If he can
clear himself on oath he is discharged; if he confesses the court will
punish him by fine or imprisonment, or both, at its discretion. But in
very many cases on proper apology and submission, and undertaking not to
repeat the contempt, and payment of costs, the court allows the
proceedings to drop without proceeding to fine or imprison.
From time to time proposals have been made to deprive the superior
courts of the power to deal summarily with contempts not committed _in
facie curiae_, and to require proceedings on other charges for contempt
to go before a jury. This distinction has already been made in some
British colonies, e.g. British Guiana, by an ordinance of 1900 (No. 31).
Recent decisions in England have so fully defined the limits of the
offence and declared the practice of the courts that it would probably
only result in undue licence of the press if the power now carefully and
judicially exercised of dealing summarily with journalistic interference
with the ordinary course of justice were taken away and the delay
involved in submitting the case to a jury were made inevitable. The
courts now only act in clear cases, and in cases of doubt can always
send the question to a jury. The experience of other countries makes it
undesirable to part with the summary remedy so long as it is in the
hands of a trusted judicature.
_Scotland._--In Scotland the courts of session and justiciary have,
at common law, and exercise the power of punishing contempt committed
during a judicial proceeding by censure, fine or imprisonment
_proprio motu_ without formal proceedings or a summary complaint. The
nature of the offence is there in substance the same as in England
(see Petrie, 1889: 7 Rettie Justiciary 3; Smith, 1892: 20 Rettie
Justiciary 52).
_Ireland._--In Ireland the law of contempt is on the same lines as in
England, but conflicts have arisen between the bench and popular
opinion, due to political and religious differences, which have led
to proposals for making juries and not judges arbiters in cases of
contempt.
_British Dominions beyond Seas._--The courts of most British
possessions have acquired and freely exercise the power of the court
of king's bench to deal summarily with contempt of court; and, as
already stated, it is not infrequently the duty of the privy council
to restrain too exuberant a vindication of the offended dignity of a
colonial court. (W. F. C.)
CONTI, PRINCES OF. The title of prince of Conti, assumed by a younger
branch of the house of Conde, was taken from Conti-sur-Selles, a small
town about 20 m. S.W. of Amiens, which came into the Conde family by the
marriage of Louis of Bourbon, first prince of Conde, with Eleanor de
Roye in 1551.
FRANCOIS (1558-1614), the third son of this marriage, was given the
title of marquis de Conti, and between 1581 and 1597 was elevated to the
rank of a prince. Conti, who belonged to the older faith, appears to
have taken no part in the wars of religion until 1587, when his distrust
of Henry, third duke of Guise, caused him to declare against the League,
and to support Henry of Navarre, afterwards King Henry IV. of France. In
1589 after the murder of Henry III., king of France, he was one of the
two princes of the blood who signed the declaration recognizing Henry
IV. as king, and he continued to support Henry, although on the death of
Charles cardinal de Bourbon in 1590 he himself was mentioned as a
candidate for the throne. In 1605 Conti, whose first wife Jeanne de
Coeeme, heiress of Bonnetable, had died in 1601, married the beautiful
and witty Louise Marguerite (1574-1631), daughter of Henry duke of Guise
and Catherine of Cleves, whom, but for the influence of his mistress
Gabrielle d'Estrees, Henry IV. would have made his queen. Conti died in
1614. His only child Marie having predeceased him in 1610, the title
lapsed. His widow followed the fortunes of Marie de' Medici, from whom
she received many marks of favour, and was secretly married to Francois
de Bassompierre (q.v.), who joined her in conspiring against Cardinal
Richelieu. Upon the exposure of the plot the cardinal exiled her to her
estate at Eu, near Amiens, where she died. The princess wrote _Aventures
de la cour de Perse_, in which, under the veil of fictitious scenes and
names, she tells the history of her own time.
In 1629 the title of prince de Conti was revived in favour of ARMAND DE
BOURBON (1629-1666), second son of Henry II. of Bourbon, prince of
Conde, and brother of Louis, the great Conde. He was destined for the
church and studied theology at the university of Bourges, but although
he received several benefices he did not take orders. He played a
conspicuous part in the intrigues and fighting of the Fronde, became in
1648 commander-in-chief of the rebel army, and in 1650 was with his
brother Conde imprisoned at Vincennes. Released when Mazarin went into
exile, he wished to marry Mademoiselle de Chevreuse (1627-1652),
daughter of the famous confidante of Anne of Austria, but was prevented
by his brother, who was now supreme in the state. He was concerned in
the Fronde of 1651, but soon afterwards became reconciled with Mazarin,
and in 1654 married the cardinal's niece, Anne Marie Martinozzi
(1639-1672), and secured the government of Guienne. He took command of
the army which in 1654 invaded Catalonia, where he captured three towns
from the Spaniards. He afterwards led the French forces in Italy, but
after his defeat before Alessandria in 1657 retired to Languedoc, where
he devoted himself to study and mysticism until his death. At Clermont
Conti had been a fellow student of Moliere's for whom he secured an
introduction to the court of Louis XIV., but afterwards, when writing a
treatise against the stage entitled _Traite de la comedie et des
spectacles selon les traditions de l'Eglise_ (Paris, 1667), he charged
the dramatist with keeping a school of atheism. Conti also wrote
_Lettres sur la grace_, and _Du devoir des grands et des devoirs des
gouverneurs de province_.
LOUIS ARMAND DE BOURBON, prince de Conti (1661-1685), eldest son of the
preceding, succeeded his father in 1666, and in 1680 married Marie Anne,
a daughter of Louis XIV. and Louise de la Valliere. He served with
distinction in Flanders in 1683, and against the wish of the king went
to Hungary, where he assisted the Imperialists to defeat the Turks at
Gran in 1683. After a dissolute life he died at Fontainebleau from
smallpox.
FRANCOIS LOUIS DE BOURBON, prince de Conti (1664-1709), younger brother
of the preceding, was known until 1685 as prince de la Roche-sur-Yon.
Naturally of great ability, he received an excellent education and was
distinguished both for the independence of his mind and the popularity
of his manners. On this account he was not received with favour by Louis
XIV.; so in 1683 he assisted the Imperialists in Hungary, and while
there he wrote some letters in which he referred to Louis as _le roi an
theatre_, for which on his return to France he was temporarily banished
to Chantilly. Conti was a favourite of his uncle the great Conde, whose
grand-daughter Marie Therese de Bourbon (1666-1732) he married in 1688.
In 1689 he accompanied his intimate friend Marshal Luxembourg to the
Netherlands, and shared in the French victories at Fleurus, Steinkirk
and Neerwinden. On the death of his cousin, Jean Louis Charles, duc de
Longueville (1646-1694), Conti in accordance with his cousin's will,
claimed the principality of Neuchatel against Marie, duchesse de Nemours
(1625-1707), a sister of the duke. He failed to obtain military
assistance from the Swiss, and by the king's command yielded the
disputed territory to Marie, although the courts of law had decided in
his favour. In 1697 Louis XIV. offered him the Polish crown, and by
means of bribes the abbe de Polignac secured his election. Conti started
rather unwillingly for his new kingdom, probably, as St Simon remarks,
owing to his affection for Francoise, wife of Philip II., duke of
Orleans, and daughter of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan. When he
reached Danzig and found his rival Augustus II., elector of Saxony,
already in possession of the Polish crown, he returned to France, where
he was graciously received by Louis, although St Simon says the king was
vexed to see him again. But the misfortunes of the French armies during
the earlier years of the war of the Spanish Succession compelled Louis
to appoint Conti, whose military renown stood very high, to command the
troops in Italy. He fell ill before he could take the field, and died on
the 9th of February 1709, his death calling forth exceptional signs of
mourning from all classes.
LOUIS ARMAND DE BOURBON, prince de Conti (1606-1727), eldest son of the
preceding, was treated with great liberality by Louis XIV., and also by
the regent, Philip duke of Orleans. He served under Marshal Villars in
the War of the Spanish Succession, but he lacked the soldierly qualities
of his father. In 1713 he married Louise Elisabeth (1693-1775), daughter
of Louis Henri de Bourbon, prince de Conde, and grand-daughter of Louis
XIV. He was a prominent supporter of the financial schemes of John Law,
by which he made large sums of money.
LOUIS FRANCOIS DE BOURBON, prince de Conti (1717-1776), only son of the
preceding, adopted a military career, and when the war of the Austrian
Succession broke out in 1741 accompanied Charles Louis, duc de
Belle-Isle, to Bohemia. His services there led to his appointment to
command the army in Italy, where he distinguished himself by forcing the
pass of Villafranca and winning the battle of Coni in 1744. In 1745 he
was sent to check the Imperialists in Germany, and in 1746 was
transferred to the Netherlands, where some jealousy between Marshal Saxe
and himself led to his retirement in 1747. In this year a faction among
the Polish nobles offered Conti the crown of that country, where owing
to the feeble health of King Augustus III. a vacancy was expected. He
won the personal support of Louis XV. for his candidature, although the
policy of the French ministers was to establish the house of Saxony in
Poland, as the dauphiness was a daughter of Augustus. Louis therefore
began secret personal relations with his ambassadors in eastern Europe,
who were thus receiving contradictory instructions; a policy known later
as the _secret du roi_. Although Conti did not secure the Polish throne
he remained in the confidence of Louis until 1755, when his influence
was destroyed by the intrigues of Madame de Pompadour; so that when the
Seven Years' War broke out in 1756 he was refused the command of the
army of the Rhine, and began the opposition to the administration which
caused Louis to refer to him as "my cousin the advocate." In 1771 he was
prominent in opposition to the chancellor Maupeou. He supported the
parlements against the ministry, was especially active in his hostility
to Turgot, and was suspected of aiding a rising which took place at
Dijon in 1775. Conti, who died on the 2nd of August 1776, inherited
literary tastes from his father, was a brave and skilful general, and a
diligent student of military history. His house, over which the comtesse
de Boufflers presided, was the resort of many men of letters, and he was
a patron of Jean Jacques Rousseau.
LOUIS FRANCOIS JOSEPH, prince de Conti (1734-1814), son of the
preceding, possessed considerable talent as a soldier, and distinguished
himself during the Seven Years' War. He took the side of Maupeou in the
struggle between the chancellor and the parlements, and in 1788 declared
that the integrity of the constitution must be maintained. He emigrated
owing to the weakness of Louis XVI., but refused to share in the plans
for the invasion of France, and returned to his native country in 1790.
Arrested by order of the National Convention in 1793, he was acquitted,
but was reduced to poverty by the confiscation of his possessions. He
afterwards received a pension, but the Directory banished him from
France, and as he refused to share in the plots of the royalists he
lived at Barcelona till his death in 1814, when the house of Conti
became extinct.
See F. de Bassompierre, _Memoires_ (Paris, 1877); G. Tallemant des
Reaux, _Historiettes_ (Paris, 1854-1860); L. de R. duc de Saint
Simon, _Memoires_ (Paris, 1873); C. E. duchesse d'Orleans, _Memoires_
(Paris, 1880); R. L. Marquis d'Argenson, _Journal et memoires_
(Paris, 1859-1865); F. J. de P. cardinal de Bernis, _Memoires et
lettres_ (Paris, 1878); J. V. A. duc de Broglie, _Le Secret du roi_
(Paris, 1878); P. A. Cheruel, _Histoire de la minorite de Louis XIV
et du ministere de Mazarin_ (Paris, 1879); E. Boutaric,
_Correspondence secrete de Louis XV sur la politique etrangere_
(Paris, 1866); P. Foncin, _Essai sur le ministere de Turgot_ (Paris,
1877); E. Bourgeois _Neuchatel et la politique prussienne en
Franche-Comte_ (Paris, 1877).
CONTI, NICOLO DE' (fl. 1419-1444), Venetian explorer and writer, was a
merchant of noble family, who left Venice about 1419, on what proved an
absence of 25 years. We next find him in Damascus, whence he made his
way over the north Arabian desert, the Euphrates, and southern
Mesopotamia, to Bagdad. Here he took ship and sailed down the Tigris to
Basra and the head of the Persian Gulf; he next descended the gulf to
Ormuz, coasted along the Indian Ocean shore of Persia (at one port of
which he remained some time, and entered into a business partnership
with some Persian merchants), and so reached the gulf and city of
Cambay, where he began his Indian life and observations. He next dropped
down the west coast of India to Ely, and struck inland to Vijayanagar,
the capital of the principal Hindu state of the Deccan, destroyed in
1555. Of this city Conti gives an elaborate description, one of the most
interesting portions of his narrative. From Vijayanagar and the
Tungabudhra he travelled to Maliapur near Madras, the traditional
resting-place of the body of St Thomas, and the holiest shrine of the
native Nestorian Christians, then "scattered over all India," the
Venetian declares, "as the Jews are among us." The narrative next refers
to Ceylon, and gives a very accurate account of the Cingalese cinnamon
tree; but, if Conti visited the island at all, it was probably on the
return journey. His outward route now took him to Sumatra, where he
stayed a year, and of whose cruel, brutal, cannibal natives he gained a
pretty full knowledge, as of the camphor, pepper and gold of this
"Taprobana." From Sumatra a stormy voyage of sixteen days brought him to
Tenasserim, near the head of the Malay Peninsula. We then find him at
the mouth of the Ganges, and trace him ascending and descending that
river (a journey of several months), visiting Burdwan and Aracan,
penetrating into Burma, and navigating the Irawadi to Ava. He appears to
have spent some time in Pegu, from which he again plunged into the Malay
Archipelago, and visited Java, his farthest point. Here he remained nine
months, and then began his return by way of _Ciampa_ (usually
Cochin-China in later medieval European literature, but here perhaps
some more westerly portion of Indo-China); a month's voyage from Ciampa
brought him to _Coloen_, doubtless Kulam or Quilon, in the extreme
south-west of India. Thence he continued his homeward route, touching at
Cochin, Calicut and Cambay, to Sokotra, which he describes as still
mainly inhabited by Nestorian Christians; to the "rich city" of Aden,
"remarkable for its buildings"; to _Gidda_ or Jidda, the port of Mecca;
over the desert to _Carras_ or Cairo; and so to Venice, where he arrived
in 1444.
As a penance for his (compulsory) renunciation of the Christian faith
during his wanderings, Eugenius IV. ordered him to relate his history to
Poggio Bracciolini, the papal secretary. The narrative closes with
Conti's elaborate replies to Poggio's question on Indian life, social
classes, religion, fashions, manners, customs and peculiarities of
various kinds. Following a prevalent fashion, the Venetian divides his
Indies into three parts, the first extending from Persia to the Indus;
the second from the Indus to the Ganges; the third including all beyond
the Ganges; this last he considered to excel the others in wealth,
culture and magnificence, and to be abreast of Italy in civilization. We
may note, moreover, Conti's account of the bamboo in the Ganges valley;
of the catching, taming and rearing of elephants in Burma and other
regions; of Indian tattooing and the use of leaves for writing; of
various Indian fruits, especially the jack and mango; of the polyandry
of Malabar; of the cockfighting of Java; of what is apparently the bird
of Paradise; of Indian funeral ceremonies, and especially _suttee_; of
the self-mutilation and immolation of Indian fanatics; and of Indian
magic, navigation ("they are not acquainted with the compass"), justice,
&c. Several venerable legends are reproduced; and Conti's name-forms,
partly through Poggio's vicious classicism, are often absolutely
unrecognizable; but on the whole this is the best account of southern
Asia by any European of the 15th century; while the traveller's visit to
Sokotra is an almost though not quite unique performance for a Latin
Christian of the middle ages.
The original Latin is in Poggio's _De varietate Fortunae_, book iv.;
see the edition of the Abbe Oliva (Paris, 1723). The Italian version,
printed in Ramusio's _Navigationi et viaggi_, vol. i., is only from a
Portuguese translation made in Lisbon. An English translation with
short notes was made by J. Winter Jones for the Hakluyt Society in
the vol. entitled _India in the Fifteenth Century_ (London, 1857); an
introductory account of the traveller and his work by R. H. Major
precedes. (C. R. B.)
CONTINENT (from Lat. _continere_, "to hold together"; hence "connected,"
"continuous"), a word used in physical geography of the larger
continuous masses of land in contrast to the great oceans, and as
distinct from the submerged tracts where only the higher parts appear
above the sea, and from islands generally.
On looking at a map of the world, continents appear generally as
wedge-shaped tracts pointing southward, while the oceans have a
polygonal shape. Eurasia is in some sense an exception, but all the
southern terminations of the continents advance into the sea in the form
of a wedge--South America, South Africa, Arabia, India, Malaysia and
Australia connected by a submarine platform with Tasmania. It is
difficult not to believe that these remarkable characters have some
relation to the structure of the great globe-mass, and according to T.
C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury, in their _Geology_ (1906), "the true
conception is perhaps that the ocean basins and continental platforms
are but the surface forms of great segments of the lithosphere, all of
which crowd towards the centre, the stronger and heavier--the ocean
basins--taking precedence and squeezing the weaker and lighter ones--the
continents--between them." "The area of the most depressed, or master
segments, is almost exactly twice that of the protruding or squeezed
ones. This estimate includes in the latter about 10,000,000 sq. m. now
covered with shallow water. The volume of the hydrosphere is a little
too great for the true basins, and it runs over, covering the borders of
the continents" (see Continental Shelf). Several theories have been
advanced to account for the roughly triangular shape of the continents,
but that presenting the least difficulty is the one expressed above,
"since in a spherical surface divided into larger and smaller segments
the major part should be polygonal, while the minor residual segments
are more likely to be triangular."
As bearing on this geological idea, it is interesting to notice in this
connexion that the areas of volcanic activity are mostly where continent
and ocean meet; and that around the continents there is an almost
continuous "deep" from 100 to 300 m. broad, of which the Challenger Deep
(11,400 ft.) and the great Tuscarora Deep are fragments. If on a map of
the world a broad inked brush be swept seawards round Africa, passing
into the Mediterranean, round North and South America, round India, then
continuously south of Java and round Australia south of Tasmania and
northward to the tropic, this broad band will represent the encircling
ribbon-like "deep," which gives strength to the suggestion that the
continents in their main features are permanent forms and that their
structural connexion with the oceans is not temporary and accidental.
The great protruding or "squeezed" segments are the Eurasian (with an
area roughly of twenty-four, reckoning in millions of square miles),
strongly ridged on the south and east, and relatively flat on the
north-west; the African (twelve), rather strongly ridged on the east,
less abruptly on the west and north; the North American (ten), strongly
ridged on the west, more gently on the east, and relatively flat on the
north and in the interior; the South American (nine), strongly ridged on
the west and somewhat on the north-east and south-east, leaving ten for
the smaller blocks. The sum of these will represent one-third of the
earth's surface, while the remaining two-thirds is covered by the ocean.
The foundation structure of the continents is everywhere similar. Their
resulting rocks and soils are due to differential minor movements in the
past, by which deposits of varying character were produced. These
movements, taking place periodically and followed by long periods of
rest, produce continued stability for the development and migration of
forms of life, the grading of rivers, the development of varied
characteristic land forms, the migration and settlement of human beings,
the facility or difficulty of intelligent intercourse between races and
communities, with finally the commercial interchange of those
commodities produced by varying climatic conditions upon different parts
of the continental surface; in short, for those geographical factors
which form the chief product of past and present human history. (See
Geography.)
CONTINENTAL SHELF, the term in physical geography for the submerged
platform upon which a continent or island stands in relief. If a coin or
medal be partly sunk under water the image and superscription will stand
above water and represent a continent with adjacent islands; the sunken
part just submerged will represent the continental shelf and the edge of
the coin the boundary between it and the surrounding deep, called by
Professor H. K. H. Wagner the continental slope. If the lithosphere
surface be divided into three parts, namely, the continent heights, the
ocean depths, and the transitional area separating them, it will be
found that this transitional area is almost bisected by the coast-line,
that nearly one-half of it (10,000,000 sq. m.) lies under water less
than 100 fathoms deep, and the remainder 12,000,000 sq. m. is under 600
ft. in elevation. There are thus two continuous plain systems, one above
water and one under water, and the second of these is called the
continental shelf. It represents the area which would be added to the
land surface if the sea fell 600 ft. This shelf varies in width. Round
Africa--except to the south--and off the western coasts of America it
scarcely exists. It is wide under the British Islands and extends as a
continuous platform under the North Sea, down the English Channel to the
south of France; it unites Australia to New Guinea on the north and to
Tasmania on the south, connects the Malay Archipelago along the broad
shelf east of China with Japan, unites north-western America with Asia,
sweeps in a symmetrical curve outwards from north-eastern America
towards Greenland, curving downwards outside Newfoundland and holding
Hudson Bay in the centre of a shallow dish. In many places it represents
the land planed down by wave action to a plain of marine denudation,
where the waves have battered down the cliffs and dragged the material
under water. If there were no compensating action in the differential
movement of land and sea in the transitional area, the whole of the land
would be gradually planed down to a submarine platform, and all the
globe would be covered with water. There are, however, periodical
warpings of this transitional area by which fresh areas of land are
raised above sea-level, and fresh continental coast-lines produced,
while the sea tends to sink more deeply into the great ocean basins, so
that the continents slowly increase in size. "In many cases it is
possible that the continental shelf is the end of a low plain submerged
by subsidence; in others a low plain may be an upheaved continental
shelf, and probably wave action is only one of the factors at work" (H.
R. Mill, _Realm of Nature_, 1897).