between the stockmen and the farmers, and the reform of judicial procedure. It was also affirmed several times,--in 1348, for example,--that there could be no new tax without a grant of the _Cortes_. The laws of Alfonso X insisted upon the king’s sole right to legislate, however, and this principle was maintained by the later kings, for despite the fact that a law of 1387 declared that the ordinances of the _Cortes_ were irrevocable, unless by the act of a _Cortes_ itself, the kings proceeded according to their own pleasure, apparently regarding the concession of 1387 as purely theoretical. The ordinances of the various _Cortes_ appeared without method or plan, and lacked the full force of law, but they demonstrated the enormous activity of this body, and were in fact a basis for much legislation, both at the time and in later years. In organization the _Cortes_ followed the general practices of the preceding era. Among the comparatively few novelties may be mentioned a law of Juan II, fixing the number of representatives from a town as two, and a law of 1351 granting immunity from arrest to members of the _Cortes_ while that body was in session. Up to 1301 Castile and León had a separate _Cortes_, although there were a number of joint meetings before that date. After 1301 there was but a single _Cortes_ for the entire kingdom. [Sidenote: Diversity in the laws and tendencies toward unification.] Not only in the ordinances of the _Cortes_, but also in the general laws of the king without intervention of the _Cortes_, in grants of municipal charters, and in the innumerable private grants (often modifying the general law) this period was exceedingly rich in legislation. The fame of the laws of Alfonso X and of Alfonso XI has obscured the legislation of other reigns, but the output of the other kings was great in quantity, if less in importance than that of the two Alfonsos. Diversity was still a leading characteristic of the legislation. For example, from Alfonso X to 1299 at least 127 local charters were granted; in the fourteenth century at least 94; and in the fifteenth, at least 5, although many were reproductions or slight modifications of certain typical charters. The _Fuero Juzgo_ continued to be the general law, but there was very little of it which was not contradicted or changed by other legislation. A tendency toward unification of the laws manifested itself in many ways, however. Alfonso X issued a municipal charter in 1254, variously named, but usually called the _Fuero Real_ (Royal Charter), which was a new model, more complete and systematic than those which had preceded it, but based on those already in existence and on the _Fuero Juzgo_, preserving the Visigothic and early Leonese and Castilian principles of law. The _Fuero Real_ was adopted as supplementary law for use in cases of appeal to the royal courts, but was also granted as the local charter of a great many towns, being the