from freemen; or
provosts, or _echevins_ (_scabini_), whose appointment was of an official
and permanent character. The scabins created by Charlemagne were the first
elected magistrates. They numbered seven for each bench. They alone
prepared the cases and arranged as to the sentence. The count or his
delegate alone presided at the tribunal, and pronounced the judgment.
Every vassal enjoyed the right of appeal to the sovereign, who, with his
court, alone decided the quarrels between ecclesiastics and nobles, and
between private individuals who were specially under the royal protection.
Criminal business was specially referred to the sovereign, the _missi_, or
the Count Palatine. Final appeal lay with the Count Palatine in all cases
in which the public peace was endangered, such as in revolts or in armed
encounters.

As early as the time of the invasion, the Franks, Bavarians, and
Visigoths, when investigating cases, began by an inquiry, and, previously
to having recourse to trials before a judge, they examined witnesses on
oath. Then, he who swore to the matter was believed, and acquitted
accordingly. This system was no doubt flattering to human veracity, but,
unfortunately, it gave rise to abuses; which it was thought would be
avoided by calling the family and friends of the accused to take an oath,
and it was then administered by requiring them to place their hands on the
crucifix, on some relics, or on the consecrated Host. These witnesses, who
were called _conjuratores_, came to attest before the judges not the fact
itself, but the veracity of the person who invoked their testimony.

[Illustration: Fig. 300.--The Judicial Duel. The Plaintiff opening his
Case before the Judge.--Fac-simile of a Miniature in the "Ceremonies des
Gages des Batailles," Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century in the National
Library of Paris.]

The number and respectability of the _conjuratores_ varied according to
the importance of the case in dispute. Gregory of Tours relates, that King
Gontran being suspicious as to the legitimacy of the child who afterwards
became Clotaire II., his mother, Fredegonde, called in the impartial
testimony of certain nobles. These, to the number of three hundred, with
three bishops at their head (_tribus episcopis et trecentis viris
optimis_), swore, or, as we say, made an affidavit, and the queen was
declared innocent.

The laws of the Burgundians and of the Anglians were more severe than
those of the Ger