trumpet, and summon them to appear before his tribunal on an appointed day, for the purpose of declaring on oath that they are innocent of the murder.” The passage is quite clear, and the method of procedure very natural. But to Dr. Lamprecht it means that the men were “associates of the mark” (p. 13, n. 3), and that they lived in a condition of community. On this he builds up a complete theory of “neighbourhood,” _Nachbarschaft_, and he maintains “that this ‘neighbourhood’ is one of the principal factors of the Frank organisation” (p. 19). He comes upon this word _vicini_, again, in an edict of Chilperic. The fact is that this edict declares, 1st, that land shall continue to pass from father to son in accordance with the old rule; 2nd, that in default of a son the daughter shall inherit; 3rd, that in default of son and daughter, the collateral relations shall take the land and the neighbours shall not take it.[187] This Dr. Lamprecht interprets as if it said that in case of the failure of the direct line the neighbours formerly had the right of taking the land; but the edict of Chilperic does not say this, and the opposite is positively proved by the section on succession (tit. xli.) in the Salic law. Then, starting with this misinterpretation, he goes on to maintain that the _vicini_ had a common right to the land, and were, so to speak, the joint-owners of it; a state of things of which there is not the slightest trace in the documents. He finds the word _vicini_ again in section xlv. of the Salic law, and at once believes that he has discovered a community, and a community of such a kind that it has the right of excluding every new-comer; so that a man who has obtained a field by purchase or bequest has not the right to occupy it without the leave of all the inhabitants. But read this section xlv. and you will see at once that it does not apply to a man who has got a field by lawful means.[188] You will notice, moreover, if you read the entire section--people are always careful not to quote more than a fragment--that there is no mention of any community. Not a single word throughout these twenty-two lines means or suggests the idea of a community or an association.[189] You do not see a body of inhabitants meeting, deliberating, deciding. What you do see is a man, who, in his own name, enters a complaint before the royal functionary, the count, against a certain person who has taken possession of a piece of land, without any right to it; and the count expels the intruder, not in virtue of the rights of the community--not a word of that--but simply in virtue of the rights of private property, and because the intruder cannot justify his possession by any legitimate title. Where do you find in all this the action of a village community, of an association of the mark? If you think you see it, it is assuredly not because it is in the original, but because your preconceptions have put it there. We have here one of the most striking