Bel, of February, 1324, "four of them being ecclesiastics
and four laymen, and that they shall assemble at the Chatelet two days in
the week, to take into consideration the suits and causes in concert with
our provost...." In 1343, the provost's court was composed of one King's
attorney, one civil commissioner, two King's counsel, eight councillors,
and one criminal commissioner, whose sittings took place daily at the
Chatelet.

From the year 1340 this tribunal had to adjudicate in reference to all the
affairs of the university, and from the 6th of October, 1380, to all those
of the salt-fish market, which were no less numerous, so that its
importance increased considerably. Unfortunately, numerous abuses were
introduced into this municipal jurisdiction. In 1313 and 1320, the
officers of the Chatelet were suspended, on account of the extortions
which they were guilty of, and the King ordered an inquiry to be made into
the matter. The provost and two councillors of the Parliament sat upon it,
and Philip de Valois, adopting its decisions, prescribed fresh statutes,
which were naturally framed in such a way as to show the distrust in which
the Chatelet was then held. To these the officers of the Chatelet promised
on oath to submit. The ignorance and immorality of the lay officers, who
had been substituted for the clerical, caused much disturbance. Parliament
authorised two of its principal members to examine the officers of the
Chatelet. Twenty years later, on the receipt of fresh complaints,
Parliament decided that three qualified councillors, chosen from its own
body, should proceed with the King's attorney to the Chatelet, so as to
reform the abuses and informalities of that court.

[Illustration: Fig. 304.--The King's Court, or Grand Council.--Fac-simile
of a Miniature in the "Chroniques" of Froissart, Manuscript of the
Fifteenth Century (formerly in the possession of Charles V), in the
Library of the Arsenal, Paris.]

In the time of Philippe le Bel there existed in reality but one
Parliament, and that was the _King's Court_. Its action was at once
political, administrative, financial, and judicial, and was necessarily,
therefore, of a most complicated character. Philippe le Bel made it
exclusively a judicial court, defined the territorial limit of its power,
and gave it as a judicial body privileges tending to strengthen its
independence and to raise its dignity. He assigned political functions to
the Great Council