[Illustrations:  Gold and Silver Coins of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.

Fig. 289.—­Royal d’Or.  Charles VII
Fig. 290.—­Ecu d’Argent a la Couronne.  Louis XI. 
Fig. 291.—­Ecu d’Or a la Couronne.  Charles VIII. 
Fig. 292.—­Ecu d’Or au Porc-epic.  Louis XII. 
Fig. 293.—­Teston d’Argent.  Francis I.
Fig. 294.—­Teston d’Argent au Croissant.  Henry II.
]

[Illustration:  Fig. 295.—­Silver Franc.  Henry IV.]

Law and the Administration of Justice.

The Family the Origin of Government.—­Origin of Supreme Power amongst the Franks.—­The Legislation of Barbarism humanised by Christianity.—­Right of Justice inherent to the Bight of Property.—­The Laws under Charlemagne.—­Judicial Forms.—­Witnesses.—­Duels, &c.—­ Organization of Royal Justice under St. Louis.—­The Chatelet and the Provost of Paris.—­Jurisdiction of Parliament, its Duties and its Responsibilities.—­The Bailiwicks.  Struggles between Parliament and the Chatelet.—­Codification of the Customs and Usages.—­Official Cupidity.—­Comparison between the Parliament and the Chatelet.

Amongst the ancient Celtic and German population, before any Greek or Roman innovations had become engrafted on to their customs, everything, even political power as well as the rightful possession of lands, appears to have been dependent on families.  Julius Caesar, in his “Commentaries,” tells us that “each year the magistrates and princes assigned portions of land to families as well as to associations of individuals having a common object whenever they thought proper, and to any extent they chose, though in the following year the same authorities compelled them to go and establish themselves elsewhere.”  We again find families (familiae) and associations of men (cognationes hominum) spoken of by Caesar, in the barbaric laws, and referred to in the histories of the Middle Ages under the names of genealogiae, faramanni, farae, &c.; but the extent of the relationship (parentela) included under the general appellation of families varied amongst the Franks, Lombards, Visigoths, and Bavarians.  Generally, amongst all the people of German origin, the relationship only extended to the seventh degree; amongst the Celts it was determined merely by a common ancestry, with endless subdivisions of the tribe into distinct families.  Amongst the Germans, from whom modern Europe has its origin, we find only three primary groups; namely, first, the family proper, comprising the father, mother, and children, and the collateral relatives of all degrees; secondly, the vassals (ministeriales) or servants of the free class; and, thirdly, the servants (mansionarii, coloni, liti, servi) of the servile class attached to the family proper (Fig. 296).