In Bearn, the duel was permitted at the option of the accuser in cases of murder and treason, but in civil suits only in default of testimony.[416] That in such cases it was in common use is shown by a treaty made, in the latter part of the eleventh century, between Centulla I. of Bearn and the Viscount of Soule, in which all doubtful questions arising between their respective subjects are directed to be settled by the combat, with the singular proviso that the combatants shall be men who have never taken part in war.[417] In the thirteenth century, however, a provision occurs which must have greatly reduced the number of duels, as it imposed a fine of only sixteen sous on the party who made default, while, if vanquished, he was visited with a mulct of sixty sous and the forfeiture of his arms.[418] In the neighboring region of Bigorre an exemption was allowed in favor of the widow whose husband had been slain in war. Until she remarried or her sons were of age to bear arms she was exempt from all legal process—a provision evidently intended to relieve her from the duel in which suits were liable to terminate.[419] In some regions greater restrictions were imposed on the facility for such appeals to the sword. In Catalonia, for instance, the judge alone had the power of deciding whether they should be permitted,[420] and a similar right was reserved in doubtful cases to the podestà in a code of laws in force at Verona in 1228.[421] This must often have prevented the injustice inherent in the system, and an equally prudent reserve was exhibited in a statute of Montpellier, which required the assent of both parties.[422] On the other hand, in Normandy, at the commencement of the thirteenth century, many cases relating to real estate were examined in the first instance by a jury of twelve men, and, if they failed of an unanimous verdict, the question was decided by the duel, whether the parties were willing or not.[423] By the criminal procedure in England, at about the same period, the duel was prescribed only for cases of felony or crimes of importance, and it was forbidden in trifling misdemeanors.[424] Appeal of battle could not lie between a vassal and his lord during the existence of the connection, nor between a serf and his master except in cases of treason.[425] It would also seem that the defendant could avoid the duel if he could prove that the motive of the appeal was hatred, for there is a curious case on record in which, when the appellant demanded battle, the accused offered to the king a silver mark for an impartial jury to decide this preliminary question, and it was granted to him.[426] In Southern Germany a fifteenth century MS. enumerates seven crimes for which the duel could be prescribed—detraction of the emperor or empire, treason, theft, robbery and depredation, rape, arson, and poisoning.[427]