Note 10 — BOOK II. CONCERNING THE CONDUCT OF CAUSES.

The mutual relations and liabilities of principal and agent, and constituent and attorney, seem to have been well defined among the Visigoths. The attorneys, “assertori,” referred to in the Code, were, in reality, attorneys-in-fact. Strictly speaking, lawyers (although the assertor appeared in court, and, to some extent, exercised the functions of an attorney-at-law) did not exist among the barbarians who had migrated from the Euxine and the Danube, and by whom members of the legal profession were looked upon with both suspicion and hatred. It is said that Alaric, by way of mockery, cut out the tongue of a distinguished Roman advocate who fell into his hands. In the Visigothic tribunals each party stated and argued his own case; and, where an attorney was appointed, every precaution was taken to prevent the exertion of that insensible, but none the less weighty, influence which everywhere attaches to the possession of superior wealth, rank and power. The effect of written instruments delegating authority to agents of various kinds, was also well understood, and their validity was insured by the attestation of reputable witnesses.—[Ed.]