scabinus

For we have already seen the dux holding the same relation, only in a less direct manner, owing to the intrusion of other interests belonging to his position; and we shall shortly have to consider the scabinus, another local officer, who, under Carlovingian rule, accomplished even more in this direction than the gastald.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

It is of more importance for us, however, to determine the reasons for the introduction into Italy by Charlemagne of the new office of the scabinus, than to lose ourselves in a complicated discussion of the theoretical predecessors of these officers.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

Some of the officers, like the vice-comes found to have existed in many localities, are simply deputies of the dux, or representatives of his person, and hold their office simply by virtue of his will and under a somewhat arbitrary tenure; others, like the gastald, the sculdahis, and later the scabinus, represent offices which formed an integral part of the constitution of the government, and appointment to which, whether made by the dux or by the central power, involved a necessary duty of a determinate character.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

After this short discussion, in which we have traced the ultimate effects of the action of Charlemagne in changing the dukes into counts, let us look at another feature in the field of city government introduced by him, the new office of the scabinus or city judge.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

We have seen the count the representative of this idea as far as its actual connection with the constitution of the state was concerned, but it was the scabinus who was to represent it to the consciousness of the people, and to assist them in rediscovering the lost conception of a municipal unity.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

These officers were the scabini, whose position we are now investigating. All of the best authorities agree that no authentic allusion to the office in Italy is to be found prior to the establishment of Frankish rule. The word scavinus or scabinus sometimes occurs, but in every case the document containing it has been proved spurious on other grounds.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

The means employed we have seen to be the functions of the various officers of state: the dux, the count and the gastald, who connected the city with the state, and the scabinus and the bishop, who represented this connection to the consciousness of the people.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

The scabinus did not have, of course, any direct limiting control over the actions of the count; for any such power in the hands of a body of lesser officers would have been alike contrary to the spirit of feudalism which characterized the age, and impossible to its forms; but being the principal judicial functionaries of the district, into their hands fell most of the cases which formerly went to the placita of the count; and while the wish of the great emperor, that even the meanest subject of the realm should receive impartial justice at their hands, might have failed in its effect, its fulfilment was made more sure by the method prescribed for the election of the officers whose duty it was to execute it.

William Klapp Williams - 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.

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."

William Klapp Williams - 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.

In the old Lombard constitution we have seen the gastald, chiefly, however, in the matter of judicial decisions, exercise a controlling influence on the arbitrary action of the duke; but as the power of the count varied from that of the duke, so that of the scabinus differs from that of the gastald, only perhaps in a greater degree.

William Klapp Williams - 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.