Of course the subject of the Inquisition is too large a field to attempt to do more than refer to its influence upon secular law in these pages, for while it continued unabated for centuries in countries subject to the Church of Rome and was not abolished in Spain, until the reign of Joseph Bonaparte in 1808,[56] in inaugurating a system of punishment for extracting evidence from the accused, its influence was wide-spread in all other countries, where the same system of punishment was carried and with time the same vile procedure was used in most other countries of Europe, in one form or another,[57] and with its examples of torture, which were gradually adopted in other countries, the equally baleful influence of the secret procedure, which was exemplified in the Star Chamber in England and the _Chatelet_ of Paris, with the accompanying inquisitorial process, followed in the wake of this hateful institution of the middle ages.[58] _The Grand Chatelet of Paris_, as the seat of the criminal tribunal of the realm, has a record second to no other criminal court of the same age for atrocious punishments inflicted upon the poor unfortunates who were brought before the court, seeking justice.[59] It was the custom to torture all malefactors, or alleged criminals, brought before the criminal division of the _Chatelet_ of Paris, in the fourteenth century. The customary procedure was accordingly divided into two classes of cases, those known as _ordinaire_ and those called _extraordinaire_. In the former class of cases inquests were held to determine the guilt of the accused and in the latter inquisition was had, in which torture was habitually employed to secure a conviction.[60] The procedure was left entirely to the discretion of the criminal judge and in a short time the judge rarely found a case for inquest, but all cases were treated as within the rule _proces extraordinaire_ and a merry chronicle of crime against criminals was here inaugurated, for long and tedious years.[61] The only redeeming feature of the procedure of this court, was the universality of its punishments, for noble blood was made to flow equally with the plebeian, and none were exempt from the torture, who were brought before this court. If the culprit denied the alleged crime, he was tortured at once, to secure a confession and if he confessed he was tortured for confessing. On the other hand, if he failed to confess, there was no limit to the torture inflicted to extract a confession from him, so frequently it happened that in the effort to find out if a crime were really committed the poor unfortunate was killed by the torture to which he was subjected.[62] In 1338 one Jehannin Maci, was arrested and brought before this cruel court for stealing a brass pot, found in his possession. After torture, he confessed the crime and was drawn on a hurdle and hanged.[63]