This famous Code consists of laws emanating from four different sources: first, those based on ancient Gothic customs; second, such as were adopted from the Roman jurisprudence; third, the acts of ecclesiastical councils; fourth, edicts of kings, promulgated at different times, according to the various exigencies that arose; all of which seem to have had equal validity. One of the most remarkable characteristics of this collection is the maintenance of the principle of legal responsibility, irrespective of wealth, rank, or dignity. Every precaution was taken to prevent the interference of the sovereign with the magistracy and the tribunals, in instances where the royal power might be improperly exerted to pervert the course of justice; and where the judge, yielding to superior influence, rendered an unjust decree, that decree was declared to be void. In cases where an appeal was taken to the throne, the king, in the consideration of the questions brought before him, was admonished to strictly observe the forms and principles of equity, and to render his decision accordingly. While the judge derived his authority from the Crown, he was in fact, independent of it; and, equally removed from the voice of popular clamor, unlike the elective magistrates of the tribunals of antiquity, was under no obligations to the populace. The sacerdotal legislator, never unmindful of his own interests while defining the rights of the people, was, nevertheless, himself subject to the secular power. While this was the case, however, a great distinction existed between the punishment inflicted for practically the same offences upon the clergy and the laity, with the advantage entirely upon the side of the former. The penalties usually imposed upon ecclesiastics for breaches of the law were fines, penance, and monastic seclusion; and their sacred office was a safeguard against the horrible and degrading punishments from which even the highest nobility were sometimes unable to escape. In this undisguised leniency, and practical exemption from severe judicial sentences, may be discerned the germ of the “benefit of clergy,” carried to such lengths, and productive of such manifold injustice and abuse, in mediæval times.