state, bringing the city into relationship with the constitution of
the kingdom and making it a part of it; but we have been unwilling to
call the count or _dux_ the _legal_ head of the city, as such, that is
to allow him the title of the first city officer. But with the
_scabinus_ the case is different. His mode of appointment, and the
character of the functions he performed, ally him with the city proper
and with city people. His duties and his interests were more confined
to the city than those of any of the other judges, and when he
accompanies the count to the general _placita_ of the king, he seems
to go in the capacity of a representative of the city, and more in the
character of a city magistrate than any officer we have yet
considered. His duties were almost entirely of a judicial character,
and his powers seem to have been as broad in their extent as those of
the other judges. That he had the power of imposing capital
punishment, and that the other officers of the law could not change
but only execute his orders, appears from the following passage:[68]
"postquam Scabini eum [latronem] adjudicaverint, non est licentia vel
Vicarii ei vitam concedere." Muratori[69] maintains that he also had
the right of holding certain _placita_ of his own, and cites in proof
two _placita_ of Lucca of the years 847 and 856, where we find: "Dum
nos in Dei nomine Ardo, Adelperto et Gherimundo Scabini adsedentes in
lucho Civitate Lucana," etc.; and "dum resedisset Gisulfus Scabinus de
Vico Laceses, per jussionem Bernardi Comiti ... ubi cum ipso aderat
Ausprand et Audibert Scavinis." In the first of these there is no
mention whatever of the count, and in the second "Gisulfus Scabinus"
acts with his associate _scabini_ "per jussionem Comiti." But even if
we allow to the _scabini_ the right of holding _placita_, these must
have been of a lower grade than those of the counts or of the _missi
regii_; for to the _mallum_ of the latter an appeal was allowed from
the judgment of the _scabini_, as we see from the law of