Now that we have indicated the origin and noted the first appearance of the new officer, let us examine his position and his duties. I am much more willing to allow to the _scabinus_ the title of "city officer," than to the _dux_ or even the count. We have seen the latter as one of the important connecting links joining the city to the state, bringing the city into relationship with the constitution of the kingdom and making it a part of it; but we have been unwilling to call the count or _dux_ the _legal_ head of the city, as such, that is to allow him the title of the first city officer. But with the _scabinus_ the case is different. His mode of appointment, and the character of the functions he performed, ally him with the city proper and with city people. His duties and his interests were more confined to the city than those of any of the other judges, and when he accompanies the count to the general _placita_ of the king, he seems to go in the capacity of a representative of the city, and more in the character of a city magistrate than any officer we have yet considered. His duties were almost entirely of a judicial character, and his powers seem to have been as broad in their extent as those of the other judges. That he had the power of imposing capital punishment, and that the other officers of the law could not change but only execute his orders, appears from the following passage:[68] "postquam Scabini eum [latronem] adjudicaverint, non est licentia vel Vicarii ei vitam concedere." Muratori[69] maintains that he also had the right of holding certain _placita_ of his own, and cites in proof two _placita_ of Lucca of the years 847 and 856, where we find: "Dum nos in Dei nomine Ardo, Adelperto et Gherimundo Scabini adsedentes in lucho Civitate Lucana," etc.; and "dum resedisset Gisulfus Scabinus de Vico Laceses, per jussionem Bernardi Comiti ... ubi cum ipso aderat Ausprand et Audibert Scavinis." In the first of these there is no mention whatever of the count, and in the second "Gisulfus Scabinus" acts with his associate _scabini_ "per jussionem Comiti." But even if we allow to the _scabini_ the right of holding _placita_, these must have been of a lower grade than those of the counts or of the _missi regii_; for to the _mallum_ of the latter an appeal was allowed from the judgment of the _scabini_, as we see from the law of Charlemagne,[70] which says that: "Si quis caussam judicatam repetere in mallo praesumserit ... a Scabinis, qui caussam ipsam prius judicaverint, accipiat." Generally speaking, however, it seems probable that their jurisdiction included all cases arising within the city limits, which could be dealt with in the regular _placita_ of the counts, and which were not of sufficient importance to be referred to the king in person, his representative the Count of the Palace, or his delegates the _missi regii_.