Fac-simile of a
Miniature in an old Poetical Romance of Chivalry, Manuscript of the
Thirteenth Century, in the Library of the Arsenal of Paris.]

This right of revenge, besides being thus circumscribed as to locality,
was also subject to certain rules as to time. Sunday and the principal
feasts of the year, such as Advent, Christmas week, and from that time to
the Epiphany, from the Ascension to the Day of Pentecost, certain vigils,
&c., were all occasions upon which the right of revenge could not be
exercised. "The power of the King," says a clever and learned writer,
"partook to a certain degree of that of God and of the Saints; it was his
province to calm human passions; by the moral power of his seal and his
hand he extended peace over all the great lines of communication, through
the forests, along the principal rivers, the highways and the byways, &c.
The _Treve du Dieu_ in 1035, was the logical application of these humane
principles."

We must not suppose that justice in those days was dispensed without
formalities, and that there were no regular intervals between the various
steps to be gone through before final judgment was given, and in
consequence of which some guarantee was afforded that the decisions
arrived at were carefully considered. No one was tried without having been
previously summoned to appear before the tribunal. Under the
Carlovingians, as in previous times, the periods when judicial courts were
held were regulated by the moon. Preference was given to the day on which
it entered the first quarter, or during the full moon; the summonses were
returnable by moons or quarter moons--that is, every seventh day. The
summons was issued four times, after which, if the accused did not appear,
he lost the right of counterplea, or was nonsuited. The Salic law allowed
but two summonses before a count, which had to be issued at an interval of
forty nights the one from the other. The third, which summoned the accused
before the King, was issued fourteen nights later, and if he had not put
in an appearance before sunset on the fourteenth day, he was placed _hors
de sa parole_, his goods were confiscated, and he forfeited the privilege
of any kind of refuge.

Among the Visigoths justice was equally absolute from the count to the
tithe-gatherer. Each magistrate had his tribunal and his special
jurisdiction. These judges called to their assistance assessors or
colleagues, either _rachimbourgs_, who were selected