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Consumer Behavior, 11e (Schiffman/Kanuk)
Chapter 10 The Family and Its Social Class Standing

1) Traditionally, ________ is defined as two or more people related by blood, marriage, or


adoption who reside together.
A) friendship
B) celebrity
C) household
D) a work group
E) family
Answer: E
Diff: 1
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

2) A married couple and one or more children constitute a(n) ________.


A) work group
B) nuclear family
C) extended family
D) friendship group
E) life cycle
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

3) Kevin and Lisa have been married for two years and have not yet had their first child. What
kind of family does this constitute?
A) empty nest
B) married couple
C) extended family
D) single-parent family
E) nuclear family
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

1
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
4) Joanne and Juan have three children: Emma, Ava, and Joseph. They are an example of a(n)
________.
A) empty nest
B) married couple
C) extended family
D) single-parent family
E) nuclear family
Answer: E
Diff: 1
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

5) A husband and wife and one or more children, together with at least one grandparent living
within the household, constitutes a(n) ________.
A) empty nest
B) married couple
C) extended family
D) single-parent family
E) nuclear family
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

6) ________ responsibilities have been expanding because attaining good jobs as adults has
become harder and parents feel that children must be ahead of other children from a young age.
A) Intergenerational brand transfer
B) Peer socialization
C) Consumer socialization
D) Shared shopping experience
E) Parental socialization
Answer: E
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

2
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
7) In the context of marketing, the most important role of the family is ________.
A) intergenerational brand transfer
B) peer socialization
C) socialization of family members
D) shared shopping experience
E) parental socialization
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

8) ________ is defined as the process by which children acquire the skills, knowledge, attitudes,
and experiences necessary to function as consumers.
A) Intergenerational brand transfer
B) Peer socialization
C) Consumer socialization
D) Shared shopping experience
E) Parental socialization
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

9) Children perceive ________ to be a close and reliable source of information, whereas


adolescents and teenagers are likely to look to ________ for models of acceptable consumption
behavior.
A) their families; their friends
B) their friends; media
C) media; their friends
D) media; their families
E) their friends; their families
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

3
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
10) A ________ is a person or organization involved in the socialization process because of
frequency of contact with the individual and control over the rewards and punishments given to
the individual.
A) socialization agent
B) status agent
C) consumption agent
D) decision agent
E) composite agent
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

11) Mothers are stronger consumer socialization agents than their husbands because ________.
A) they are more involved with their children
B) they often control their children's exposure to commercial messages
C) they provide instruction in the skills needed to become consumers
D) they regulate the amount of money children can spend and how they spend it
E) all of the above
Answer: E
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

12) Deborah is married and has a career. She multitasks and teaches her children how to become
good consumers. She lets them learn from experience and make buying mistakes. When
characterizing mothers' socialization-related attitudes, Deborah would be categorized as a
________.
A) Struggler
B) Nurturer
C) Protector
D) Balancer
E) Stoic
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

4
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
13) Chris does not have the money to indulge her children's requests. She is very price and value
conscious. She views her life negatively. When characterizing mothers' socialization-related
attitudes, Chris would be categorized as a ________.
A) Struggler
B) Nurturer
C) Protector
D) Balancer
E) Stoic
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

14) Sarah is focused on her family, and often sacrifices her own desires to meet the wants of her
children. She trusts well-known companies and brands. When characterizing mothers'
socialization-related attitudes, Sarah would be categorized as a ________.
A) Struggler
B) Nurturer
C) Protector
D) Balancer
E) Stoic
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

5
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
15) Josie is culturally and socially isolated. She views herself as a caretaker and homemaker. She
loves her children, but feels emotionally distanced from them. She deliberates regarding
purchases. When characterizing mothers' socialization-related attitudes, Josie would be
categorized as a ________.
A) Struggler
B) Nurturer
C) Protector
D) Balancer
E) Stoic
Answer: E
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

16) Hillary has a high income and a Master's degree. She is rational and teaches her children to
shop and spend responsibly. She resents the influence of the media on her children. When
characterizing mothers' socialization-related attitudes, Hillary would be categorized as a
________.
A) Struggler
B) Nurturer
C) Protector
D) Balancer
E) Stoic
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

6
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
17) Kristen is self-focused and seeks acceptance and attention from others. She is a conspicuous
consumer. She views her children as part of her image, and often gives in to her children's
requests to make her life easier. When characterizing mothers' socialization-related attitudes,
Kristen would be categorized as a ________.
A) Struggler
B) Nurturer
C) Protector
D) Diva
E) Stoic
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

18) ________ parents are very nurturing and highly permissive in respect to consumer
socialization.
A) Rigid
B) Indulgent
C) Neglecting
D) Authoritative
E) Authoritarian
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

19) ________ parents are very permissive, but provide their children with little or no nurturing
during consumer socialization.
A) Rigid
B) Indulgent
C) Neglecting
D) Authoritative
E) Authoritarian
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

7
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
20) ________ parents are very nurturing but very restrictive in respect to consumer socialization.
A) Rigid
B) Indulgent
C) Neglecting
D) Authoritative
E) Authoritarian
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

21) ________ parents are very restrictive and not nurturing in respect to consumer socialization.
A) Rigid
B) Indulgent
C) Neglecting
D) Authoritative
E) Authoritarian
Answer: E
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

22) ________ involves the transfer of values, product loyalties, or brand preferences from one
generation to another.
A) Intergenerational transfer
B) Peer socialization
C) Consumer socialization
D) Shared shopping experience
E) Family member socialization
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

8
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
23) Gloria buys Crest toothpaste because her mother always bought Crest for her family when
she was growing up. This is an example of ________.
A) intergenerational transfer
B) peer socialization
C) consumer socialization
D) shared shopping experience
E) family member socialization
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

24) Socialization is best described as ________.


A) a one-way process whereby adults socialize children
B) a one-way process whereby children socialize adults
C) a one-way process that occurs only during adolescence
D) a one-way process that occurs only during adulthood
E) a two-way process in which the young person is both socialized and influences those who are
doing the socializing
Answer: E
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

25) The family function related to setting priorities regarding learning and education,
recreational activities, hobbies, setting career goals, media exposure, and shopping habits is
________.
A) economic well being
B) emotional support
C) communication support
D) suitable family lifestyles
E) shopping support
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.1: To understand the family as a consumer socialization agent.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

9
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
26) When Joan got transferred to a new city, she went there ahead of the rest of her family and
independently shopped for and purchased a home for them to move into upon their arrival. Joan's
role as the only decision maker in the house purchase makes it an example of a ________.
A) husband-dominated decision
B) wife-dominated decision
C) joint decision
D) autonomic decision
E) heuristic decision
Answer: D
Diff: 3
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.2: To understand family decision making and its members' consumption-
related roles.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

27) Derek was the primary decision maker when it came to automotive purchases in his
household, but asked for and considered feedback from his wife and children when they went to
purchase a new car. Derek's approach makes the car purchase an example of a(n) ________.
A) husband-dominated decision
B) wife-dominated decision
C) joint decision
D) autonomic decision
E) heuristic decision
Answer: A
Diff: 2
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.2: To understand family decision making and its members' consumption-
related roles.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

10
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
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28) Kim wants a candy bar and tries to convince her father to purchase one for her by threatening
to throw a fit in the crowded grocery store if he does not. This is an example of which of the
following tactics used by children to influence their parents?
A) pressure tactic
B) ingratiating tactic
C) exchange tactic
D) coalition tactic
E) consultation tactic
Answer: A
Diff: 3
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.2: To understand family decision making and its members' consumption-
related roles.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

29) Billy tries to convince his mother to buy him a new set of markers by suggesting that he will
be good and clean his room if she purchases the markers for him. This is an example of which of
the following tactics used by children to influence their parents?
A) inspirational appeal
B) coalition tactic
C) consultation tactic
D) exchange tactic
E) rational persuasion
Answer: D
Diff: 3
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.2: To understand family decision making and its members' consumption-
related roles.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

11
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
30) Frank tries to get buy-in from his father on the purchase of a new tablet by asking his father
to help him research the different types of tablets and getting him involved in the shopping
process. This is an example of which of the following tactics used by children to influence their
parents?
A) inspirational appeal
B) coalition tactic
C) consultation tactic
D) exchange tactic
E) rational persuasion
Answer: C
Diff: 3
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.2: To understand family decision making and its members' consumption-
related roles.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

31) Vacuum cleaner manufacturers should conduct research on children who perform
housekeeping chores by themselves in their roles as ________.
A) buyers
B) maintainers
C) deciders
D) preparers
E) gatekeepers
Answer: B
Diff: 3
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.2: To understand family decision making and its members' consumption-
related roles.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

12
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
32) Which of the following is NOT one of the variables that is combined to make the family life
cycle composite variable?
A) marital status
B) size of family
C) age of family members
D) family income
E) employment status of the head of household
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Analytical thinking

33) In the ________ stage of the traditional family life cycle, single young individuals have
established households apart from their parents.
A) bachelorhood
B) honeymooner
C) parenthood
D) postparenthood
E) dissolution
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

34) Marriage marks the transition from the ________ stage to the ________ stage of the
traditional family life cycle.
A) bachelorhood; honeymooner
B) honeymooner; parenthood
C) parenthood; postparenthood
D) postparenthood; dissolution
E) dissolution; bachelorhood
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
35) Ken and Kira recently married and do not currently have any children. They both work and
are conscientiously saving their money so that they can go on a cruise next summer. Ken and
Kira are best described as being at the ________ stage of the traditional family life cycle.
A) bachelorhood
B) honeymooner
C) parenthood
D) postparenthood
E) dissolution
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Skill: Application
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Application of knowledge

36) The birth of the first child marks the transition from the ________ stage to the ________
stage of the traditional family life cycle.
A) bachelorhood; honeymooner
B) honeymooner; parenthood
C) parenthood; postparenthood
D) postparenthood; dissolution
E) dissolution; bachelorhood
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

14
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
37) During the ________ stage of the traditional family life cycle, married couples tend to be
most comfortable financially.
A) bachelorhood
B) honeymooner
C) parenthood
D) postparenthood
E) dissolution
Answer: D
Diff: 3
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

38) The ________ stage of the basic family unit occurs with the death of one spouse.
A) bachelorhood
B) honeymooner
C) parenthood
D) postparenthood
E) dissolution
Answer: E
Diff: 3
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.3: To understand the role of the family life cycle in market segmentation and
targeting.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

39) Families that do not readily fit into the family life cycle are called ________.
A) atypical families
B) extended families
C) non-family households
D) nuclear families
E) nontraditional families
Answer: E
Diff: 2
Skill: Concept
Learning Obj: 10.4: To understand the consumption patterns of non-traditional families and non-
family households.
Learning Outcome: 12: Describe the effects of changing family structures on family decision
making
AACSB: Reflective thinking

15
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
Influence Of The Aristocracy.

But human nature is the same amongst barbarian nations as


amongst civilized peoples; and the coarseness of forms, the
brutality of passions, and the limited range of ideas, do not prevent
similar positions from leading to the same results. Now, it is in the
nature of an aristocracy that is closely pent up around the prince,
of a Court aristocracy, to use power for their own advantage rather
than to limit it for the benefit of the State. It almost inevitably
becomes a focus of faction and intrigue, around which individual
interests are set in motion, and not a centre of controlment and
resistance in which the public interest finds a place. If the times are
barbarous and manners violent, individual interests assume the
forms of barbarism and use the means of violence; if satisfied, they
obey with the same servility as before; if discontented, they poison,
assassinate, or dethrone. Such was the case in the monarchy of the
Visigoths. All usurpations and revolutions in power originated in the
officium palatinum; and when a king attempted to subject the
nobles to the performance of public services, to limit or even to
examine into the concessions which they demanded, that king lost
the empire. Such was the fate of Wamba.

The Visigothic sovereigns had, moreover, in the bishops, a powerful


counterpoise, which they set in opposition to the nobles of their
Court, in order to prevent them from aspiring to entire
independence. The influence of the clergy, too weak to act as an
effectual check on the power of the prince, was strong enough, in
the hands of the prince, to prevent the check from coming from
any other quarter. The reign of Chindasuinth affords an example of
this.

Finally, as I have already said, the predominance of Roman maxims


and institutions in Spain was so great, that the central aristocracy
bore more resemblance to the officium palatinum of the
emperors than to the Antrustions or Leudes of Germanic origin.
Elsewhere, these last were not slow to obtain sufficient strength to
assert their independence, to isolate themselves from the prince,
and finally to become petty sovereigns in their own domains. In
Spain, things did not occur precisely thus. It appears that the
proceres received from the king dignities and offices in greater
abundance than lands, and thus acquired less individual and
personal strength. Perhaps the equality granted to the Roman
population, and the fusion of the two peoples, did not permit so
great a dilapidation of property and distribution of domains as that
which took place in France. What would have occurred if the
monarchy of the Visigoths had not been interrupted in its course by
the conquest of the Arabs? Would the dismemberment of the royal
power and the dispersion of the Court have led to the dispersion
and independence of the landed aristocracy? We cannot say. This
much is certain, that the phenomenon which was exhibited in
France, at the fall of the Carlovingians, did not occur among the
Visigoths, in the eight century: the officium palatinum had
neither destroyed nor divided the royal power, and made but feeble
attempts to limit it.

Character Of The Goths.

One fact must be added, which, though universally attested, is not


explained in a satisfactory manner. Of the various German peoples,
the Goths preserved in the smallest degree their primitive
institutions and manners. The Ostrogoths in Italy, under Theodoric,
like the Visigoths in Spain, allowed Roman habits to prevail
amongst them, and permitted their kings to arrogate to themselves
the plenitude of imperial power. We even find, among the Goths of
Italy, still fewer traces of the existence of the old national
assemblies, and of the participation of the people in the affairs of
the State.

It would therefore be vain to seek, in the Visigothic monarchy, for


the principles, or even the remnants, of any great institution of
liberty, or of any effectual limitation of power. Neither the councils
of Toledo, nor the officium palatinum present this character; but
there resulted from them something that did not result from the
Champs de Mars and de Mai, or from the Saxon Wittenagemot,
—a code of laws, which, for that period, are very remarkable for
their large philosophical views, their foresight, and their wisdom;
but this code, though it indicates the handiwork of enlightened
legislators, nowhere reveals the existence of a free people. It
contains even fewer germs or monuments of liberty than the rudest
of Barbarian laws; and the royal power, thus considered as in itself
the centre of the State, appears as much more absolute in right,
and much less limited in fact, than it was anywhere else. An
examination of the local institutions of the Visigoths will lead us to
the same result.

Local Institutions Of The Visigoths.

Local institutions are the most real, perhaps the only real,
institutions of Barbarian peoples. They do not possess sufficient
vitality or enlargement of mind to originate or preserve general
institutions. The material contiguity of individuals is an almost
indispensable condition of the existence of society amongst them; it
is therefore in the local institutions of the German peoples that we
must seek the history of their political life. The forms of these
institutions; and the modifications which they underwent, exercised
far greater influence over their destiny, than the revolutions which
occurred in central institutions, such as the Wittenagemot, the
placita generalia, and the royal power.

As you have already seen, the laws of most of the German peoples
present three co-existent and conflicting systems: institutions of
liberty; institutions of territorial patronage, which gave birth to
feudalism; and monarchical institutions. The assembly of free men
transacting the general business, and administering justice in every
district; the landowners, exercising authority and jurisdiction
throughout their domains; the king's delegates, whether dukes,
counts, or others, also possessing authority and jurisdiction: such
are the three powers which have reciprocally contested the
government of localities, and whose existence and vicissitudes are
proved by the laws as well as by facts.

The code of the Visigoths presents no trace whatever of the first of


these systems, and scarcely any of the second; the third immensely
predominates. There was no mallum, no placitum, no assemblies
of free men in the provinces; no enactment ordains, or even refers
to them. Scarcely does there exist any indication of the power of
the patron over his client, of the landowner over the inhabitants of
his domains. The law which I quoted in my last lecture, with
reference to slaves, proves that, even in their case, the jurisdiction
belonged to the royal judge of the district.

Various Kinds Of Magistrates.

The Forum judicum mentions a large number of local magistrates


who were invested with the power of administering affairs and
distributing justice. "As there is a great variety in the means of
remedying evils and terminating affairs, let the duke, count, vicar,
conservator of the peace (pacis assertor), tinfadus,
millenarius, quingentenarius, centenarius, decanus,
defensor, numerarius, and those who are sent to any place by
order of the king, and those who are accepted as judges by the
agreement of the litigant parties,— let all persons, in fine, of
whatever order they may be, who are regularly invested with power
to judge, and each person in such proportion as he has received
power to judge, equally obtain from the law the name of judges, in
order that, having received the right to judge, the duties as well as
the advantages connected with that right may devolve upon them."

It is difficult to determine with precision the different functions of


all these magistrates, the hierarchy which existed among them, and
the manner in which each of them received and exercised his
power. Those who belonged to towns, as the defensor and the
numerarius, were certainly elected by the clergy and inhabitants.
Several others, as the millenarius and centenarius, seem to
have been appointed by the dukes and counts of the provinces; but
however this may be, nothing indicates that they received their
authority in a popular and independent way; the opposite principle
is formally laid down in these terms: "No one shall be permitted to
judge suits, except those who have received power from the prince
to do so, or those who have been chosen as judges, by agreement
of the litigants; the choice of these last shall be made in presence
of three witnesses, and shall be attested by their mark or
signature. If those who have received from the king power to
judge, or those who exercise judicial power by commission from
the counts or other royal judges, have charged, by writing, and
according to the prescribed rules, other persons to fill their places,
these last shall exercise, in the regulation and decision of affairs, a
power similar to that of those by whom they were appointed."
Thus, all the judges, all the local officers, received their power from
the king or his delegates. Of the three systems of institutions,
whose co-existence and conflict are manifested amongst most of
the German peoples, the monarchical system is the only one with
which we meet in the code of the Visigoths.

In addition to the permanent judges, established in various


localities, the kings had power to send special commissioners,
either to restore order in disaffected provinces, or to give judgment
in cases of particular importance. Criminal as well as civil affairs
were submitted to the decision of the royal judges. All these judges
received salaries from the king; but they also levied such enormous
fees on the litigants, that the fees frequently amounted to one-third
of the value of the object in litigation, A law was passed, limiting
them to one-twentieth. Any who thought they had reason to
complain of the decision of the judge might appeal, either to the
duke or count of the province, or to the king himself. If the appeal
was deemed well-founded, in addition to gaining the cause, the
judge had to pay the appellant a sum equal to the value of the
object in litigation. If the judgment was confirmed, the appellant
had to pay the same amount to the judge, and if he could not do
so, he was condemned publicly to receive a hundred lashes.

Constitution Of Judicial Authority.

Up to this point, nothing in the constitution of judicial authority


exhibits any of those guarantees of liberty contained in the laws of
the other Barbarian peoples. Nothing discloses any remnant or even
remembrance of the old forms of judgment by the assembly of free
men, per Rachimburgos, bonos homines, &c. Some passages
of the Forum judicum, however, prove that the judges, at least,
had assessors. The fourth council of Toledo formally prohibits the
kings from administering justice alone; and several texts allude to
auditores. Most learned men, and amongst others Heineccius, are
of opinion that the assessors were not mere councillors; and that
the judge was bound to take the opinions of a majority of them. I
am inclined to think so too. Several texts, however, formally
indicate that the judge was at liberty to take assessors or not, as
he pleased.

Laws Against Bad Judges.

In the absence of those real guarantees of liberty, which originated


elsewhere in the more or less effectual intervention of the freemen
in the judgment of cases, the Forum judicum contains a
multitude of precautions or laws against bad judges. In case of
appeal to the count or king, if it were proved that the wrong
decision of the judge was occasioned by malice, corruption, or
prevarication of any kind, and if he were unable to pay the
appellant the requisite sum, he was given to him as a slave, and
condemned to receive besides fifty lashes in public. He was
absolved from all penalty, however, if he proved, under oath, that
his decision was pronounced in error or ignorance. The judges who
neglected to prosecute the licentious were punished with a hundred
lashes, and fined 300 solidi. The priests and bishops everywhere
were enjoined to exercise a strict surveillance over the judges; and
as the former then derived their chief strength from their superior
knowledge and their protection of the weak, it is not unlikely that
this guarantee was effective.

But all this was defective, as you perceive, by the radical defect of
the system of pure monarchy, which gives, as the only guarantee
for the good conduct of the depositaries of power, the surveillance
and authority of superior depositaries placed in the same position,
and invested with the same functions.

… Sed quis custodiet ipsos


Custodes? …

The true guarantees of liberty can only reside in the concurrence of


collateral and independent powers, none of which is absolute, and
which mutually control and limit each other. Of this the Forum
judicum affords us no trace, at any stage in the long hierarchy of
the government.

The local government of the Visigoths, then, presents still fewer


institutions containing any active principle of liberty, any real force
of control or resistance, than are found in their political régime,
and at the centre of the State. Such is, at least, the unavoidable
result to which we are led by an examination of the general and
definitive code of this nation.

This result has appeared so singular, so opposed to German


customs, and to the state of things among other peoples of the
same origin, that hardly any man of erudition has been willing to
read it in the Forum judicum; and that those even who have
failed to find in this code any proof of the existence of free
institutions, and almost any trace of old Barbarian institutions, have
striven to discover them elsewhere in Spain at this period.

Views Of M. De Savigny.

I shall say nothing of Abbé Mariana, who, in his Teoria de las


Cortes, is determined to discover, in the councils of Toledo, not
only the Spanish Cortes of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
but also all the principles and guarantees of liberty—all, in fine, that
constitutes a national assembly and a representative government. I
have already demonstrated the moral improbability and the historic
unreality of the fact. Two more learned men than Abbé Mariana,
and less inclined than he to find what they seek, have thought that
they perceive, in the Forum judicum, proofs that the purely
monarchical system, associated with the theocratic system, did not
prevail so completely among the Visigoths; and that they can
discover among them evidences of effective and extended public
liberties: I refer to M. de Savigny, in his History of Roman Law
in the Middle Ages, and to a writer in the Edinburgh Review,
[Footnote 18 ] in an article on The Gothic Laws of Spain. I do
not think that the researches of these two learned critics destroy
the general results which I have just laid before you. They
nevertheless contain many curious facts hitherto little noticed, and
which throw much light on the study of the political institutions of
the Visigothic monarchy. I shall, therefore, make you acquainted
with them, and examine the consequences to which they lead.

[Footnote 18: Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxi., pp. 94-132.]

M. de Savigny, when investigating the traces of the perpetuation of


the Roman law after the fall of the Empire, expresses himself in
these terms, in reference to the Visigoths: "Upon the constitution of
this monarchy," he says, "we possess sufficiently complete
information in the Breviarium Aniani, who, about the year 506,
that is, nearly a century after the foundation of the State, drew up
the Roman law into a sort of code for the ancient inhabitants of the
country. This code consists, as is well known, of two parts: one
contains texts quoted word for word from the Roman law; the
other an interpretation specially prepared on this occasion. With
regard to the texts quoted from the Roman law, we cannot attach
great importance to them, when we speak of the real state of
things at the period of this publication; as they were drawn from
sources much more ancient, expressions and even entire phrases
were necessarily retained which had reference to various
circumstances of a social state that had already passed away and
fallen into desuetude; the interpretation was intended to explain
this disagreement. But this interpretation, drawn up ad hoc, is, on
the other hand, very trustworthy, especially when it does not
implicitly follow either the words or the sense of the text, for then
we can no longer regard it as a servile and thoughtless copy,
especially in what relates to matters of public law. It is impossible
to believe that real establishments, institutions set before the eyes
of all, and with which all might be acquainted, could have been
mentioned unintentionally and described without an object. Now, in
this interpretation, the Roman præses has entirely disappeared;
but the municipal community, with its particular jurisdiction and its
decurions taking part in the administration of justice, subsists in all
its integrity: it even appears to possess more individual consistency
and independence than it had enjoyed under the emperors.

The Defenders Of Cities.

"The general principle of the defensores, of their duties and the


mode of choosing them, is explained in the interpretation, as well
as in the text of the Theodosian code. According to the text, the
governor of the province was not to be burdened with the
judgment of petty offences; but it does not mention who was to
judge them, whereas the interpretation expressly names the
defensor. According to the text, the introduction of a civil suit
might take place either before the governor, or before those who
had the right to draw up the necessary acts; the interpretation
adds the defensor. …"

M. de Savigny then quotes a number of other examples to prove


the maintenance, and even extension, of the functions of the
defenders of the cities. "Other passages," he continues, "have
reference to the curia, the decurions, and even to the citizens in
general. The system of decurions, in general, is received in the
Breviarium, with very few modifications, but merely great
abridgement. To one passage of the text which casually mentions
adoption, the interpretation adds, as a commentary, that it is the
choice of an individual as a child, made in presence of the curia.
The Visigothic jurisconsult, Graius, says, that emancipation, which
formerly took place before the president, was, at the period at
which he wrote, performed before the curia."

Importance Of The Curia.

"The text determines by whom tutors were appointed at


Constantinople, namely, by the prefect of the city, ten senators, and
the prætor, whose duty it was to watch over the interests of the
pupils: the interpretation substitutes in their place the judge, with
the chief men of the town. The text speaks of the necessity of a
decree to authorize the alienation of the property of a minor: the
interpretation adds, that this decree must be obtained from the
judge or the curia. The text ordains that, at Constantinople, wills
should be opened by the same office that received them: the
interpretation substitutes the curia in its place. According to the
text, donations should be registered either before the judge (the
governor of the province), or before the municipal magistrate (the
duumvir): the interpretation substitutes the curia for the
municipal magistrate—which does not, in reality, alter the sense of
the law, but which proves what is demonstrated by many other
passages, that the general point of view was completely changed;
anciently the chief municipal authority, and especially jurisdiction,
was considered, according to Roman maxims, to be a personal right
of the magistrate: according to the interpretation, it belonged less
to the defensor himself, than to the curia taken collectively. …
Under the emperors, the honorati, that is, those who had
occupied high municipal dignities, had a seat of honour near the
governor of the province when he administered justice; they were
only expected to abstain from being present when their own causes
were under consideration. The interpretation applies this to the
curials; an application which is remarkable in two respects, first,
because it proves that the curials were held in great consideration,
and secondly, because this does not merely refer to the possession
of a seat of honour by them, but to an actual participation in the
jurisdiction of the municipal judge, that is, of the duumvir or
defensor. … The text of the code ordains that, out of Rome, in
order to pronounce sentence on a criminal accusation brought
against a senator, five senators shall be chosen by lot: the
interpretation makes this rule general, and requires five men to be
chosen from the leading members of the same rank as the accused
person, that is, decurions or plebeians, according to the condition
of the accused person himself. Finally, the text ordained that every
judge should receive his domesticus or cancellarius from the
choice of the principal persons employed in his chancery: the
interpretation retains the rule, merely substituting the burgesses of
the city for the persons employed in the chancery."

Objections To Savigny's Theory.

Such are the traces of municipal liberties which M. de Savigny


discovers in the Breviarium Aniani, and which he considers as
the common and permanent law of the Visigothic monarchy. They
prove, in fact, not merely the maintenance, but also the extension
and enfranchisement, of the rights and guarantees possessed by
the inhabitants of the towns before the settlement of the
Barbarians. But strong objections may be raised against the
importance which the author attaches to these texts, and the
extent of the conclusions which he deduces therefrom.

I. The Breviarium Aniani does not contain the common and


permanent law of the Spanish monarchy of the Visigoths. It only
gives the special legislation of the Roman subjects of the Visigothic
kings, when the kings resided at Toulouse, and had as yet only
uncertain possessions in Spain; when the South of Gaul constituted
the bulk, and almost the whole, of the kingdom. There is nothing
to prove that all that is contained in the Breviarium Aniani,
towards the end of the fifth century, for the benefit of the Romans
of Southern Gaul, subsisted in Spain until the eighth century, for
the benefit of the Goths and Romans, when merged into a single
nation. The silence of the Forum judicum, which is the true code
of the Spanish Visigoths, upon most of these arrangements, proves
more against their maintenance than is demonstrated in their
favour by the text of the Breviarium, which was drawn up in
another place, at an earlier period, and for a portion only of the
people.

Abolition Of The Breviarium Aniani.

II. About a hundred and fifty years after the publication of the
Breviarium, the Goths and Romans were united into a single
nation. The collection of laws, successively augmented under the
different reigns, and completed by Chindasuinth, became the sole
code of the kingdom; all other laws were abolished, and the
Breviarium was necessarily included in this abolition. The text of
the law of Recesuinth is formal: "That absolutely none of the men
of our realm be permitted to lay before the judge, for the decision
of any affair, any other collection of laws than that which has just
been published, and according to the order in which the laws are
inscribed therein; and this, under penalty of a fine of thirty pounds
of gold to our treasury. Any judge who should hesitate to decline
any other book that might be presented to him as suited to
regulate his decision, will be punished by the same fine."

M. de Savigny foresaw this objection; and without absolutely


dissembling it, he has tried to weaken it by not quoting the text of
the law of Recesuinth, and by speaking only of the attempts made
by the Visigothic kings, that Spain should contain only a single
nation, and be governed by a single code. These evasions are in
striking contrast with his usual candour. He then makes use of the
existence of the defensores, proof of which is found in the Forum
judicum, to assume the maintenance of all the prerogatives and
liberties attributed to them by the Breviarium. This conclusion is
evidently hasty and excessive.

I do not dispute that the towns of Spain were able to retain, or


indeed that they did necessarily retain, some institutions, some
guarantees of municipal liberty. I should not infer their absolute
disappearance from the silence of the Forum judicum. The
despotism of the Barbarian kings, however careful it may have
been to gather the heritage of Roman maxims, was neither as wise
nor as circumstantial as that of the emperors. It allowed the curiæ
and their magistrates to continue in existence, and these petty local
powers assuredly had more reality and independence under its rule
than they had possessed under the Empire. The clergy, principally
dwelling in the towns, and bound by strong ties to the Roman race,
was itself interested in protecting them, and the more so, because
it naturally placed itself at the head of the municipalities. Thus
much is certain, that the remnants of institutions of surety and
liberty which existed there, occupy no place in the written laws,
although these laws are much more detailed than those of other
Barbarian peoples, and embrace the whole civil order. They could
not, therefore, be considered as forming a part of the general
constitution of the kingdom; they neither modified its political
character, nor changed the results of the principles that prevailed
therein.
Gothic Laws Of Spain.

If M. de Savigny has looked for the institutions of the Visigoths in


an epoch anterior to the definitive establishment of their true
monarchy, and in a collection of laws abolished by the Forum
judicum, the author of the dissertation contained in the Edinburgh
Review has addressed his inquiries to times and documents
posterior by four or five centuries to the destruction of the kingdom
of the Visigoths by the Arabs; and by transporting the
consequences which he has obtained therefrom into the epoch
which occupies our attention, he has fallen into an error still less
supported by facts than was that of M. de Savigny. His researches
and inferences are the following:—

"It must not be supposed that the whole body of the law of the
Visigoths appears in the twelve books of their code. They had
their common or traditionary law, still existing in unwritten
usages and customs, as well as their written law; and we are
supported by analogy in asserting that this common law often
spoke, when the statute law was silent. It outlived the
monarchy; and we now collect it from the Fueros or ancient
customs of Castile and Leon. The customs in question are
preserved in the charters of the towns, which gave bye-laws to
the inhabitants, confirming the unwritten common law of the
country, sometimes with greater or lesser modifications in the
detail, but agreeing in general principles. We equally discover
them in the acts of Cortes, which, to borrow the expression of
Sir Edward Coke, are often 'affirmances of the common law.'
The traditionary Fueros of Castile also formed the basis of the
Fuero Viejo de Castilla, which received its last revision under
Peter the Third. And even Alonso the Wise, though he planned
the subversion of the ancient jurisprudence of his kingdom,
admitted into the Partidas such of those Fueros de España as
relate to the tenures of land, and to military service. Consisting
of ancient usages, neither refined by the learning of the councils
nor restrained by the power of the kings, the Fueros of Castile
and Leon bear a nearer affinity to the jurisprudence of the
Teutonic nations than the written code. The water ordeal is
noticed only once, in a law newly amended by Flavius Egica.
But ordeal by compurgation, the most ancient form of trial by
jury, and the battle ordeal, do not appear at all. Neither do we
find any notice of the custom of returning military leaders by
the verdict of a jury. All these customs, however, were Fueros
of Spain in the Middle Ages. Nor could they possibly have then
existed, had they not been preserved by immemorial usage and
tradition."

Election Of Adalides.

The author then passes these ancient usages in review. The first to
which he refers is the appointment of military leaders by a jury. He
traces this custom back to the forests of Germany: and then shows
how it could not fail to succumb universally beneath the
establishment of the feudal system, and in consequence of the
hierarchical subordination of persons and lands. He discovers traces
of this in the nomination, by the people, of the Anglo-Saxon
heretochs and constables, who were at first military officers; and
also in the election of the kings of Norway by the verdicts of twelve
of the principal men of each province. He then returns to Spain,
"where," he says, "we shall find our old Gothic juries employed in
electing the chief officers of the army and navy of the Castilians,
the Adalid, the Almocaden, the Alfaqueque, and the Comitre. Who
was to be the Adalid? The question must be answered in the words
of the wise king Alonso. It is said by the ancients that 'the Adalid
should be endowed with four gifts—the first is wisdom, the second
is heart, the third is good common sense, and the fourth is loyalty;
and when a king or any other great lord wishes to make an Adalid,
he must call unto himself twelve of the wisest Adalides that can
be found, and these must swear that they will truly say, if he
whom they wish to choose to be an Adalid hath the four gifts of
which we have spoken, and if they answer yea, then they are to
make him an Adalid.'" Here we have clearly an inquest by twelve
men giving their verdict upon oath. If it happened that twelve
Adalides could not be found, then a kind of tales de
circumstantibus was added to this special jury of Adalides. The
king or lord was to make up the full number of twelve with other
men well approved in war and deeds of arms, and their verdict was
as good as if they had been all Adalides. And he who dared to act
as an Adalid without being fully elected, was to suffer death. "It
was advised in ancient times," says Alonso, "that they were to have
the qualities before mentioned, because it was necessary that they
should possess them, in order to be able to guide the troops and
armies in time of war, and therefore they were called Adalides,
which is equivalent to guides (que quiere tanto decir como
guiadores)."

Admission Of An Adalid.

The author is, therefore, of opinion that this word comes from
adal, adel, noble, and leid, lead, leiten, to guide or conduct. The
Adalid was the guide or chief of the Almogavars, or cavalry
soldiers. The Adalid mayor was commander-in-chief of all the
Almogavars, or Castilian cavalry.

After his election by this species of jury, the Adalid was thus
solemnly admitted to his office. "The king gave him rich garments,
and a sword and a horse, and arms of wood and iron, according
to the customs of the country. By a rico hombre, a lord of
knights, the sword was to be girt, and then a shield was placed
upon the ground, the future Adalid stepped upon it, and the king
drew the sword out of its scabbard, and put it naked in his hand.
And now as many of the twelve Adalids as can assemble round the
shield, grasp its edge, and lift him up as high as they may: they
turn his face towards the east.—In the name of God," exclaims the
Adalid, "I defy all the enemies of the faith, and of my lord the king,
and of his land." And, thus speaking, he lifted up his arm, and
struck a stroke downward, and he then struck another stroke
across, thus describing in the air the sweet and holy sign of
redemption, and he repeated this challenge four times towards
each of the quarters of the world. Then the Adalid sheathed his
sword, and the king placed a pennon in his hand, saying, "I grant
unto thee that henceforward thou art to be an Adalid." An
Adalid might have risen to command from the lowest rank in the
Castilian army. He might have been a peon or foot-soldier, but he
became the fellow and companion of the hereditary nobles, the
lords of vassals, and the ricos hombres." In this ceremony, the
author perceives a repetition of the forms used at the election of
kings among the Germans, or at least at the choice of military
leaders; duces ex virtute sumunt.

Election Of Officers By A Jury.

I would by no means affirm that there does not exist, in this mode
of choosing captains, in the concurrence of these twelve jurymen,
and even in the number twelve itself, any remnant of old Germanic
customs. This much is evident, that what has just been described
was much rather a sort of chivalric ceremony in connection with the
elevation of a man to a superior rank, than the election of a
barbaric chief; all the forms, all the details of the elevation of an
Adalid, remind us much more of chivalric usage than of Germanic
custom; and it is a strange anachronism to suppose that all this
took place, five hundred years before, among the Visigoths,
notwithstanding that no mention is made of it in any historic
monument, and, what is still more conclusive, notwithstanding that
the general state of manners at that time gives no hint of anything
of the kind. It is much more probable that these customs originated
among the Goths during their struggle against the Arabs, in the
mountains of Northern Spain, and in consequence of the new
direction of mingled feudalism and liberty, which was imparted to
their manners by this new position.

The Almocadene or captain of foot soldiers, the Alfaqueque or


officer employed to treat for the ransom of captives from the
Moors, and the Comitre or captain of a ship, were appointed in a
similar manner, and by the recommendation of a jury composed,
not of members of the class to which the candidate belonged, but
to members of the class to which he aspired. This circumstance
alone settles the question; for it is a result of chivalric, and not of
Barbarian manners; it reminds us of the squire who was dubbed
knight by knights, and not of the warrior who was chosen or
judged by his peers.

I shall not follow the author in his researches on ordeal by boiling


water and by fire, or upon trial by combat. Although we meet with
traces of these customs in the old monuments of some Barbarian
legislations, they were not the common law of modern peoples,
during the first epoch of their establishment on the Roman territory.
It was at a later period, and by the influence either of the
corruption of religious ideas by superstition, or of the military
organization of the feudal system, that they became developed,
recognized, and formed into a veritable jurisprudence. The general
facts of Europe do not, therefore, authorize us to conclude that,
because they existed among the Spaniards in the fourteenth
century, they also existed among the Visigoths in the seventh
century. The almost absolute silence of the historic monuments of
the first epoch, here retains all its authority.

Compurgation.

The facts relative to compurgation, by the oath of a certain number


of witnesses, are more important and more curious.
"Compurgation," says our author, "is directed in express terms in all
the Teutonic laws; but it does not appear to have been admissible
in trials conducted according to the forms prescribed by the Fuero
juzgo. Yet afterwards, this ordeal was widely spread as a fuero,
both in civil and criminal trials. Though discountenanced by the
legislature, it was retained in practice; and a forcible illustration is
thus given of the stubbornness with which the Goths adhered to
their usages and customs. Trial by jury, through it, in its germ
was felt to be a benefit."

"As an ancient and general usage of Castile, the trial is sanctioned


in the Fuero Viejo. As a local custom or bye-law of the cities of
Castile and Leon and their dependencies, it was very frequently
established, or rather declared, by the charters granted by their
founders.

"Three thousand sueldos, according to the Fuero Viejo, were


paid for dishonouring the palace of the king, or spoiling his castle;
and five hundred sueldos was the price of the head of the
merino, or the composition for scandalizing him; and every man
who wished to save himself from the payment of these mulcts, was
to defend himself by the oath of twelve men, for such was the
usage of Castile in the old time. When accused of the death of
another fijo d'algo, the suspected noble defended himself by the
oath of eleven other fijos d'algo, himself the twelfth, and, as
true knights, they were all sworn upon the Gospel Book, with their
spurs upon their heels. There were two insults only which gave a
Dueña, or a squire, the right of complaining that a fijo d'algo had
scandalized them, viz., a blow or a wound, or the robbery of their
mules or garments. Within three days, the party so injured by a
caitiff knight was obliged to complain of the offence, and to
disclose the injury to the fijos d'algo of the town, the
labradores, and to the inmates of the fijos d'algo, if there were
any, and to cause the town-bell to be rung, saying, "such a one
hath thus dishonoured me." These formalities having been
observed, the fijo d'algo was bound to answer the complaint;
reparation was made if he confessed it, by forfeiting five hundred
sueldos, the price of his own head; but if he denied it, he was to
clear himself by the oath of eleven other fijos d'algo, himself the
twelfth. But a labrador accused of injuring a fijo d'algo was not
to be admitted to defend himself by his peers; and he was unfairly
compelled to swear with eleven fijos d'algo, himself the twelfth.

"These customs are taken from the general code. In peculiar


districts, compurgation was so much in vogue, that compurgatrixes
were allowed to female culprits. At Anguas, as well as in other
towns, a woman charged with theft could defend herself by the
oaths of a jury of other women. More whimsical was the Fuero of
Cuenca, which is passing strange, both for the spirit of the law and
the terms in which it is expressed. If perchance any husband
suspected that his wife had planted horns upon his head, although
he was not able to prove the fact by evidence, the wife was to
justify herself by swearing to her chastity, with twelve good wives
of the neighbourhood; and if they pronounced her to be pure, her
husband was obliged to be persuaded that she was so.

"The customs of St. Sebastien in Guipuscoa, allowed an odd kind of


proceeding, resembling the assessment of damages by the verdict
of a jury. The ravisher was to pay the price of virginity, or he was
to marry the object of his ungovernable passion; which
punishment, as the charter wisely observes, 'is fully equal to a fine.'
But if she, who had been a maid, was unworthy of becoming his
wife, he was to provide her with such a husband as she might have
reasonably expected to have obtained previous to her mishap,
'according to the estimation of the alcalde, and of twelve good men
of St. Sebastien.'

"The fullest directions concerning the use of the ordeal are


contained in the charter of Molina. Don Molrique de Lara
incorporated the town of Molina, the seigniory of the noble house
of Lara, in the year 1152. His charter may be quoted as the most
valuable record concerning the ancient municipal jurisprudence of
Castile which has yet been published, as it displays the entire
constitution and government of a Castilian town. … Fines, according
to the old Gothic law, were enacted at Molina for wounds and
maims. The accuser was to support his charge by three 'vecinos'
or burghers of the town, if the offence was committed within its
walls. Two vecinos sufficed if without. And, in default of full proof,
the culprit either swore with twelve vecinos, or fought with the
accuser; but the latter had the choice of the ordeal. … When a
murder had been committed, if one of those engaged in the fray
took the guilt on his own head, saying, 'I killed him,' the others
were 'to save themselves with twelve true burghers,'—los otros
salvense con doce vecinos derecheros. It might happen, that
none would confess the crime; and as all were then equally liable
to suspicion, the relations of the dead man were at liberty to select
any one as the murderer, 'just as they thought fit;' after which the
supposed murderer named eleven relations of the slain, and these,
together with the accuser, swore to his being guilty or not guilty.
Unanimity was required; and if one or two would not swear, that is
to say, if they could not agree with the majority, each one who was
so dissentient swore with twelve, that neither he, nor any one for
his use, had received any bribe; then he was discharged. But if the
defendant did not 'fall' by the withdrawing of his juror, he was at
liberty to name another. This proceeding is remarkable; a new
aspect is given to the ordeal by calling in the compurgators to
swear with the accuser instead of the accused; and in this form it
is, perhaps, more closely assimilated to a jury-trial. It may be
observed, that a practice once prevailed in England of withdrawing
the dissentient jurors, and replacing them by others, till an
unanimous verdict was obtained."

Such are the facts which the author of these researches has
collected on the existence of ancient Germanic customs, or
analogous usages, in the towns of Castile and Leon, dating from
the twelfth century. He unhesitatingly concludes therefrom that
these same customs existed in the sixth and seventh centuries
among the Spanish Visigoths, and formed a part of their
institutions.
Errors Of The Preceding Theory.

It is inconvenient to prove that facts are not true, for it devolves on


him who affirms them to prove that they are so; and, in such a
case as this, when we speak of epochs separated by five or six
centuries, and by such a revolution as the dispossession of a
people and a foreign conquest, inductions are not sufficient. The
Forum judicum is absolutely silent upon the appointment of
military leaders, and upon compurgation by juries; nay, more, this
latter institution is incompatible with the arrangements of this code
in reference to judges and the administration of justice. No other
contemporary authority contradicts the Forum judicum. Must we,
upon the authority of facts of much more recent date, and which
refer to an entirely different state of civilization, refuse to believe
proofs so direct, and testimonies so positive?

I am aware of all that may be said about the disorders of these


times, the continual gaps in the laws, and the disposition of
legislators to omit precisely those usages which were most simple
and universal, as though they had no need to be consecrated or
even indicated by formal enactment. It is, in fact, very possible that
the practice of compurgation by juries was not completely unknown
to the Visigoths; it recurs in all Germanic customs, and it may not
have disappeared either entirely or all at once, even after the
introduction of a code derived principally from the Roman laws. But
it is impossible to believe, in spite of this code, that it continued to
be the common law, the fundamental institution, the veritable
judicial system of the nation.

It is more easy to explain, with likelihood, the existence of these


practices among the Spanish Goths of the twelfth century, than to
justify, without proofs, or rather in opposition to all evidence, the
arbitrary supposition of their prevalence among the Visigoths of the
seventh. Such institutions have in themselves something of
spontaneity; they correspond to a certain degree of civilization, to a
certain state of social institutions; we meet with them under forms
more or less similar, but fundamentally analogous, not only among
all the Germanic peoples, but also among nearly all those barbaric
peoples which, scarcely issued from a nomadic life, begin to
establish themselves on a new territory, after they have conquered
it. Now, the destruction of the monarchy of the Visigoths by the
Arabs suspended the course of the institutions which it had
received two centuries before, broke off the councils of Toledo,
crushed or greatly diminished the predominance of the clergy, and,
in fine, put a stop to the civilization which had commenced, and
gave to affairs an entirely new direction.

Birth Of Free Institutions.

Scattered among the mountains, frequently wandering, separated


into various bands, those of the Goths who did not submit to the
conquerors, returned, so to speak, towards the life which their
ancestors led in the forests of Germany. Roman institutions, Roman
maxims, all that collection of laws and ideas which they had
received from the clergy, and which had prevailed over their own
habits, disappeared almost necessarily in this shock, or at least
were retained only by those Goths who remained under the
dominion of the Mussulmans. The companions of Pelagius, up to a
certain point, became Germans once more, from sheer necessity. It
was after this involuntary return to their primitive condition, and, by
consequence, to their ancient institutions, that they resumed the
offensive against the Arabs, and reconquered Spain by degrees,
bringing back with them those political and judicial customs,
usages, and practices, which they had partially regained. Free
institutions, moreover, could not fail to regain vitality at this period;
for they alone can supply strength in times of danger or
misfortune. It was not in the power of the customs of the officium
palatinum, and of the maxims of the councils of Toledo, to restore
the Goths to their subjugated country, and reinstate the
descendants of Chindasuinth upon the throne of their fathers. The
participation of the people in public affairs, the sternness of
Barbarian manners, and the energy of irregular liberty, could alone
produce such effects. There is every reason to believe that the
institutions of Spain, after the re-establishment of the kingdoms of
Castile, Leon, Arragon, &c, were new institutions, and the result of
the new position of the Goths, much more than the legacy of the
ancient Visigoths. We find proofs of this in the general Cortes of
the kingdom, in the constitutions and liberties of the towns, in the
whole political order of the State, which has no connection
whatever with the old monarchy, and follows much more naturally
as a result of the condition and necessities of new monarchies. The
political system established by the councils of Toledo and the
Forum judicum could not have taken deep root; it fell before
necessities which it was unable to meet.

Conclusion.

The Forum judicum itself would perhaps have completely


succumbed, had it not continued to be the law of those Goths who
had submitted to the yoke of the Moors; it moreover regulated civil
order, which is always more firmly fixed, and less influenced by
revolutions. It therefore continued, in this respect, to be the
general law of Spain; whilst political order assumed a new form and
was regulated by other institutions.

The Forum judicum and contemporary authorities are the only


true source at which we can study the political institutions of the
ancient Visigoths; a source which is doubtless incomplete, and
which does not inform us of all that existed; a source which,
probably even, especially neglected to gather up what still
remained of Germanic manners and habits, but which it is
impossible to repudiate in order to admit facts and general
institutions which are directly contrary to it. The consequences
which I have deduced from these original and contemporary
authorities, therefore, still subsist, and determine the true political
system of the monarchy of the Visigoths. The imperial government,
and ecclesiastical theories, were its constituent elements. These
elements prevailed over Germanic customs. They were doubtless
modified in order that they might be adapted to a Barbarian
people; but, by modification, they gained dominion, and became
the general form, the fundamental law, of the State. If the Spanish
Goths afterwards entered upon a course more analogous to that
pursued by other modern nations of the same origin, it is in the
invasion of the Arabs, in the second conquest of Spain by the re-
Germanized Goths, and in the effects of this great revolution, but
not in the institutions of the monarchy of the Visigoths, that we
may discern the causes of this procedure.

End Of Part I.
Part II.

Essays Of Representative Government In


England,
From The Conquest Till The Reign Of The
Tudors.

Lecture I.
Subject of the course: the history of the origin and
establishment of representative government in Europe.

Different aspects under which history is considered at various


epochs.

Poetic history; philosophic history; political history.

Disposition of our time to consider history under these various


aspects.

Fundamental principle and essential characteristics of


representative government.

Existence of this principle and these characteristics in England at


all times.

Subject of the course.


I think it necessary to remind you, gentlemen, of the plan which I
adopted last year with regard to our study of the political
institutions of Europe. The essential object of that plan was to give
some unity and compactness to this vast history. And this is not an
arbitrary and self-chosen object. In the development of our
continent, all its peoples and all its governments are connected
together; in spite of all struggles and separations, there is really
some unity and compactness in European civilization. This unity,
which has been revealing itself from day to day, is now evident;
never have geographical limits possessed less sway than in our
times; never has such a community of ideas, feelings, aspirations,
and efforts united, in spite of territorial demarcations, so great a
mass of men. That which is now revealed has been labouring for
more than twelve centuries to manifest itself; this external and
apparent community has not always existed; but such has always
been, at bottom, the unity of European civilization, that it is
impossible thoroughly to understand the history of any of the great
modern peoples without considering the history of Europe as a
whole, and contemplating the course pursued by humanity in
general. It is a vast drama in which every people has its part to
perform, and with the general events of which we must be
acquainted in order to understand the particular scenes connected
therewith.

Epochs Of European History.

I have divided the history of the political institutions of Europe into


four great epochs, which are distinguished from each other by
essentially different characteristics. The first is the barbarian epoch;
a time of conflict and confusion, in which no society could be
established, no institution be founded and become regularly
prevalent in any part of Europe; this epoch extends from the fifth
to the tenth century. The second is the feudal epoch, and extends
from the tenth to the fourteenth century. The third is the epoch of
efforts towards constitutional monarchy; feudalism declines, the
populations become free, and royalty employs them to extend and
augment its power; this epoch embraces the period from the
fourteenth to the sixteenth century. In the fourth period, on the
Continent, all efforts towards a representative system have failed or
almost entirely disappeared; pure monarchy prevails. England alone
decidedly obtains a constitutional government. This epoch lasts
from the sixteenth century to the French Revolution.

These epochs were not determined by an arbitrary choice,—their


division results from the general facts which characterize them.
They will not all form the subject of this course of lectures. I wish
to study the political institutions of Europe with you, and
representative government is the centre towards which all our
studies tend. Where I perceive no trace of the representative
system, and no direct effort to produce it, I turn aside, and transfer
my attention to some other quarter. Nor shall I merely limit our
studies in reference to epochs only; I shall limit them also in
respect to places. Last year, in my lectures on the first epoch, I did
not follow the progress of political institutions in the whole of
Europe, but confined my observations to France, Spain, and
England. We have now to study the third epoch; but the States-
General of France and the Cortes of Spain were only unfruitful
attempts at representative government. I shall therefore postpone
our study of them, and devote this year's course to the attentive
examination of the origin of representative government in England,
the only country in which it received uninterrupted and successful
development. This study is particularly necessary to us at the
present day, and we are ourselves well-disposed to enter upon it
with an earnest desire to reap advantage from it.

Aspects Of History.

According to their political state, and in the degree of their


civilization, do the peoples consider history under various aspects,
and look to it for various kinds of interest. In the early ages of
society, whilst all is new and attractive to the youthful imagination
of man, he demands poetical interest; the memories of the past
form the groundwork of brilliant and simple narratives, fitted to
charm an eager and easily satisfied curiosity. If, in such a
community, where social existence is in full vigour, and the human
mind is in a state of excitement, Herodotus reads to the Greeks
assembled at Olympia his patriotic narratives, and the discoveries of
his voyages, the Greeks delight in them as in songs of Homer. If
civilization is but little advanced—if men live more isolated—if
'country,' in the concrete, at least, exists but slightly for them,—we
find simple chronicles intermingled with fables and legends, but
always marked with that naïf and poetical character which, in such
a condition of existence, the human mind requires in all things.
Such are the European chronicles from the tenth to the fifteenth
century. If, at a later period, civilization becomes developed in a
country without the coeval establishment of liberty, without an
energetic and extensive political existence, when the period of
enlightenment, of wealth, and of leisure, does arrive, men look for
philosophical interest in history; it no longer belongs to the field of
poetry; it loses its simplicity; it no longer wears its former real and
living physiognomy; individual characters take up less space, and
no longer appear under living forms; the mention of names
becomes more rare; the narrative of events, and the description of
men, are more its pretext than its subject; all becomes generalized;
readers demand a summary of the development of civilization, a
sort of theory of the peoples and of events; history becomes a
series of dissertations on the progress of the human race, and the
historian seems only to call up the skeleton of the past, in order to
hang upon it general ideas and philosophic reflections. This
occurred in the last century; the English historians of that period,
Robertson, Gibbon, and Hume, have represented history under that
aspect; and most of the German writers still follow the same
system. The philosophy of history predominates; history, properly
so called, is not to be found in them.
The History Of Free Nations.

But if advanced civilization and a great development of the human


intellect coincide, in a nation, with an animated and keen political
existence; if the struggle for liberty, by exciting the mind, provoke
energy of character; if the activity of public life be added to the
general claims of thought, history appears in another light; it
becomes, so to speak, practical. No longer is it required to charm
easily excited imaginations by its narratives, nor to satisfy by its
meditations active intellects debarred from exercising themselves
upon aught but generalities. But men expect from it experience
analogous to the wants they feel, to the life they live; they desire
to understand the real nature and hidden springs of institutions; to
enter into the movements of parties, to follow them in their
combinations, to study the secret of the influence of the masses,
and of the action of individuals; men and things must resuscitate
before them, no longer merely as an interest or diversion, but as a
revelation of how rights, liberties, and power are to be acquired,
exercised, and defended; how to combine opinions, interests,
passions, the necessities of circumstances, all the elements of
active political life. That is what history becomes for free nations; it
is from that point of view that Thucydides wrote the history of the
Peloponnesian war, Lord Clarendon and Bishop Burnet that of the
English Revolution.

Generally, and by the very nature of things, it is in regular order,


and at distant intervals, that history assumes one or other of these
various kinds of interest in the eyes of the people. A taste for
simple narratives, a liking for philosophic generalizations, and a
craving for political instruction, almost always belong to very
different times and degrees of civilization.

Historic Requirements Of The Present Age.

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