royal tribunal. No person could be affected in life or property, except by
a decision of this municipal court; and no cause while pending before it
could be evoked thence into the superior tribunal. In order to secure the
barriers of justice more effectually against the violence of power, so
often superior to law in an imperfect state of society, it was provided in
many of the charters that no nobles should be permitted to acquire real
property within the limits of the community; that no fortress or palace
should be erected by them there; that such as might reside within its
territory, should be subject to its jurisdiction; and that any violence,
offered by them to its inhabitants, might be forcibly resisted with
impunity. Ample and inalienable funds were provided for the maintenance of
the municipal functionaries, and for other public expenses. A large extent
of circumjacent country, embracing frequently many towns and villages, was
annexed to each city with the right of jurisdiction over it. All arbitrary
tallages were commuted for a certain fixed and moderate rent. An officer
was appointed by the crown to reside within each community, whose province
it was to superintend the collection of this tribute, to maintain public
order, and to be associated with the magistrates of each city in the
command of the forces it was bound to contribute towards the national
defence. Thus while the inhabitants of the great towns in other parts of
Europe were languishing in feudal servitude, the members of the Castilian
corporations, living under the protection of their own laws and
magistrates in time of peace, and commanded by their own officers in war,
were in full enjoyment of all the essential rights and privileges of
freemen. [25]

It is true, that they were often convulsed by intestine feuds; that the
laws were often loosely administered by incompetent judges; and that the
exercise of so many important prerogatives of independent states inspired
them with feelings of independence, which led to mutual rivalry, and