mprisonment of the more obnoxious judges or scholars.

[Sidenote: The Parliament of Paris]

The Parliament of Paris was the legitimate successor of that assembly in
which, in the earlier stage of the national existence, the great vassals
came together to render homage to the lord paramount and aid him by
their deliberations. This _feudal_ parliament was transformed into a
_judicial_ parliament toward the end of the thirteenth century. With the
change of functions, the chief crown officers were admitted to seats in
the court. Next, the introduction of a written procedure, and the
establishment of a more complicated legislation, compelled the
illiterate barons and the prelates to call in the assistance of
graduates of the university, acquainted with the art of writing and
skilled in law. These were appointed by the king to the office of
counsellors.[32] In 1302, parliament, hitherto migratory, following the
king in his journeys, was made stationary at Paris. Its sessions were
fixed at two in each year, held at Easter and All Saints respectively.
The judicial body was subdivided into several "chambers," according to
the nature of the cases upon which it was called to act.

[Sidenote: Becomes the supreme court.]

From this time the Parliament of Paris assumed appellate jurisdiction
over all France, and became the supreme court of justice. But the burden
of prolonged sessions, and the necessity now imposed upon the members of
residing at least four months out of every year in the capital, proved
an irksome restraint both to prelates and to noblemen. Their attendance,
therefore, began now to be less constant. As early as in 1320 the
bishops and other ecclesiastical officers were excused, on the ground
that their duty to their dioceses and sacred functions demanded their
presence elsewhere. From the general exemption the Bishop of Paris and
the Abbot of St. Denis alone were excluded, on account of their
proximity to the seat of the court. About the beginning of the fifteenth
century, the members, taking advantage of the weak reign of Charles the
Sixth, made good their claim to a life-tenure in their offices.[33]

[Sidenote: Provincial parliaments.]

The rapid increase of cases claiming the attention of the Parliament of
Paris suggested the erection of similar tribunals in the chief cities of
the provinces added to the original estates of the crown. Before the
accession of Francis the First a provincial parliament had been