[8] This chapter does not appear in the Castilian translation. It is the only instance in the Visigothic Code where any ordeal is permitted as a means of obtaining evidence of crime. The other ordeals, subsequently so popular during the Middle Ages, and employed not only in proceedings before judicial tribunals, but also by the clergy to establish the existence of demoniacal possession, do not seem to have been practised by, or even known to, the Visigoths. Nor did they ever appeal to the wager of battle, so congenial to the spirit of the pugnacious barbarian, and which afterwards became one of the institutions of the age of chivalry and feudalism.--[ED.] [9] “_Decalvatio_” was one of the most dreaded punishments sanctioned by the Visigothic laws. The tonsure was itself considered degrading, among a people who attached the highest importance to a luxuriant growth of hair, even when, as a distinctive mark of their calling, it was undergone by ecclesiastics; and shaving the head, in the execution of a judicial sentence, was often regarded as an indelible mark of infamy. There were several degrees of this punishment, all of which did not entail the same suffering and disgrace. In some cases, the hair was cut in the form of a cross; in others, the head was entirely shaved. He who was “_turpiter decalvatus_,” was scalped, and had the skin entirely stripped from his head above the ears; a practice surpassing in barbarity that peculiar to the American Indian. It was not unusual, in the infliction of this cruel penalty, to include a portion, or even all, of the skin of the forehead; thereby horribly disfiguring the victim for life.--[ED.] [10] The mutual relations and liabilities of principal and agent, and constituent and attorney, seem to have been well defined among the Visigoths. The attorneys, “_assertori_,” referred to in the Code, were, in reality, attorneys-in-fact. Strictly speaking, lawyers (although the _assertor_ appeared in court, and, to some extent, exercised the functions of an attorney-at-law) did not exist among the barbarians who had migrated from the Euxine and the Danube, and by whom members of the legal profession were looked upon with both suspicion and hatred. It is said that Alaric, by way of mockery, cut out the tongue of a distinguished Roman advocate who fell into his hands. In the Visigothic tribunals each party stated and argued his own case; and, where an attorney was appointed, every precaution was taken to prevent the exertion of that insensible, but none the less weighty, influence which everywhere attaches to the possession of superior wealth, rank and power. The effect of written instruments delegating authority to agents of various kinds, was also well understood, and their validity was insured by the attestation of reputable witnesses.--[ED.]