By the constitution of 1282 the nobles were not excluded from office, but if they wished to qualify themselves for it they had to enter a guild. Many of them fulfilled this condition, and several nobles held the office of prior during the next ten years. But class jealousies continued to create domestic quarrels, and in 1293 Giano della Bella, himself of noble origin, proposed and carried the famous [Sidenote: Ordinances of Justice, 1293.] ‘Ordinances of Justice.’ To qualify for office a man must really practise the trade or craft to which he belonged. The _grandi_ were not only to be excluded from any share in the government, but they were subjected to serious social disqualifications. In time of disorder they were confined to their houses on penalty of exile. A noble could not accuse a citizen or bear witness against him without the consent of the signory, and the severest penalties were imposed on a noble who wounded or killed a citizen. The duty of enforcing these ordinances was intrusted to a specially created official, the gonfalonier of justice, who [Sidenote: The Gonfalonier.] was to be appointed every two months and was to be a member of the signory. The gonfalonier, who was intrusted with the command of a large force of infantry, became the most dignified officer of the state, though his actual powers were not greater than those of the priors. From this time one of the harshest penalties was to confer nobility upon a political offender, and the greatest reward that could be conferred upon a deserving _grande_ was to degrade him to the rank of a citizen. To protect the signory from attack a fortified _Palazzo Pubblico_ was built for their reception, a building which is now famous as the _Palazzo Vecchio_. Although the actual government of Florence from 1293 may be considered to be a plutocracy, in that the actual conduct of affairs was monopolised by the wealthy burghers, yet the constitution possessed a real democratic basis. The ultimate power of making any constitutional change rested with the _parlamento_, a mass meeting [Sidenote: The Parliament.] of all citizens in the great piazza. Such a meeting could at any time appoint a _balia_, _i.e._ a committee with full powers to alter the laws; and it was by this method that most of the revolutions in Florentine history were accomplished.