Note 7 — BOOK II. CONCERNING THE CONDUCT OF CAUSES.

Nothing in the whole system of the Visigoths is more remarkable than the care with which they attempt to preserve the integrity of the judiciary. It is not impossible that the notorious corruption attending the dispensation of justice by the Roman tribunals, in the days of the decadent Empire, may have prompted the drastic legislation against judicial misconduct which is so prominent a feature of the Code. The penalties in extreme cases are but little inferior in severity to that said to have been imposed by Cambyses; who flayed a corrupt judge, and placed his skin in the judgment seat, as a suggestive warning to his successors. It may well be presumed that, in the face of such punishment, the acceptance of bribes was not a common vice among the Visigothic magistrates. The latter did not receive regular salaries, but were paid according to the work they performed; a regulation which would appear, in some instances, rather calculated to encourage, than to suppress litigation.—[Ed.]