austed every source of credit by his luxury, his caprices,
and his wars. Jean de Beaune, Baron de Semblancay, the old minister of
finance, died a victim to false accusations of having misappropriated the
public funds. Robertet, who was in office with him, and William Bochetel,
who succeeded him, were more fortunate: they so managed the treasury
business that, without meeting with any legal difficulty, they were
enabled to centralise the responsibility in themselves instead of having
it distributed over sixteen branches in all parts of the kingdom, a system
which has continued to our day. In those days the office of superintendent
of finance was usually only a short and rapid road to the gibbet of
Montfaucon.

[Illustrations: Gold and Silver Coins of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Centuries.

Fig. 289.--Royal d'Or. Charles VII
Fig. 290.--Ecu d'Argent a la Couronne. Louis XI.
Fig. 291.--Ecu d'Or a la Couronne. Charles VIII.
Fig. 292.--Ecu d'Or au Porc-epic. Louis XII.
Fig. 293.--Teston d'Argent. Francis I.
Fig. 294.--Teston d'Argent au Croissant. Henry II.
]

[Illustration: Fig. 295.--Silver Franc. Henry IV.]

Law and the Administration of Justice.

The Family the Origin of Government.--Origin of Supreme Power amongst
the Franks.--The Legislation of Barbarism humanised by
Christianity.--Right of Justice inherent to the Bight of Property.--The
Laws under Charlemagne.--Judicial Forms.--Witnesses.--Duels, &c.--
Organization of Royal Justice under St. Louis.--The Chatelet and the
Provost of Paris.--Jurisdiction of Parliament, its Duties and its
Responsibilities.--The Bailiwicks. Struggles between Parliament and the
Chatelet.--Codification of the Customs and Usages.--Official
Cupidity.--Comparison between the Parliament and the Chatelet.

Amongst the ancient Celtic and German population, before any Greek or
Roman innovations had become engrafted on to their customs, everything,
even political power as well as the rightful possession of lands, appears
to have been dependent on families. Julius Caesar, in his "Commentaries,"
tells us that "each year the magistrates and princes assigned portions of
land to families as well as to associations of individuals having a common
object whenever they thought proper, and to any extent they chose, though
in the following year the same authorities compelled them to go and
establish themselves elsewhere." We again find families (_familiae_) and
association