* * * * * When the prosecution and defence had thus exhausted all their resources, the latter was required to conclude and the case was pronounced to be concluded, although the fiscal could open it again, if new evidence appeared, and the accused could appeal from this as from all other sentences. It was then ripe for judgement, but the inquisitors were not authorized to pronounce sentence alone. The necessity for episcopal concurrence required the intervention of a representative of the bishop of the prisoner's diocese and, in addition, the rule of the Old Inquisition was preserved under which some graduates in law and theology were assembled to deliberate and vote with the others. These were called consultors and we have seen that they were a recognized portion of the inquisitorial organization. The whole body formed what was known as the _consulta de fe_, in whose hands lay the fate of the accused. The number of consultors was uncertain. In 1488, at Barcelona, we hear of a consulta in which five masters of theology and five doctors of canon law were called in, and of another in which there were twelve of each, but such assemblies were unwieldy and, in 1596, the Suprema restricted the number to two theologians and three jurists. There was a scandalous practice allowed by the Instructions of 1561, of having the fiscal present without a vote, in order to give information--information which would be apt to expand into argument. Subsequently this seems to have been confined to some tribunals, but in all he could be called upon to elucidate any doubtful point, either orally or in writing.[187] No such privilege was allowed to the accused. Even lawyers who served as _abogados de los presos_ were declared, in 1538, to be ineligible for service as consultors.[188] [Sidenote: _THE CONSULTA DE FE_]