The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century - An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development - Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes. by William Klapp Williams
page 38 of 97 (39%)
page 38 of 97 (39%)
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compelled, by the forms of their tenure, to bear arms. Ample proof of
this is to be found throughout the law codes, but we need not pause to cite such confirmation, if we remember the natural evolution of the office of _dux_ from his position in the original Lombard military system. As a good example of this military leadership we may refer to the provisions of the twenty-ninth law in the sixth book of the laws of Liutprand.[21] What is of the greatest importance to us, however, in bringing out the relations of the cities to the rest of the community in Lombard and Frankish times, is the position of the _judex_ as duke and as count within his own _judiciaria_, that is, within the _civitas_ of which he was both lord and judge. It was through him, or perhaps I should say chiefly through him, that the city was at this period connected with the state; and it was principally by the exercise of the functions of his office that the city formed a part of the state. His official residence, in the majority of cases, and his courts, were situated within the city's limits; thus making the official machinery of government a part of the city life, and causing the city to become an actual if not a legally recognized part of the constitution of the state. As far as this investigation is concerned, this represents the prominent feature of the power and position of the head of the _civitas_. We must be careful, however, to avoid any confusion of ideas as to the importance which it gave to the city as a municipal unit or as a corporation. It was in no way what we could call a municipal government, even admitting a rather loose interpretation of the term, as the supporters of the theory of the survival of the Roman curial system would have us believe.[22] The _judex_ may be called "the highest municipal officer among the Lombards," and this designation still be correct, though perhaps misleading. He was the |
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