conclusive. The conclusion reached is,
then, that the king and the dukes were the successors of the old
_curia_ in the possession and the administration of all properties and
revenues, taxes and fines formerly belonging to the organized
corporations of the Roman municipalities, and that the _curtes regiae_
were the channel through which these were collected, divided and
expended.

The grounds on which this assertion is based are the continual
recurrence of examples of functions of a fiscal character being
exercised by the head of the _civitas_ and his officers, and by them
alone; and it appears to me that it could only be by a complete
misunderstanding of the spirit of the early writings, and by a
comprehensive misapplication of the terms used in them, that these
functions could be referred to any other power. These functions of the
administration may be grouped under three main heads, viz: 1. Fines
and forfeitures, which, of course, played a very prominent part under
the Teutonic system of composition for offenses of a criminal nature;
2. Taxes and privileges, by which is meant feudal rights, dues, etc.;
and 3. Buildings and lands belonging to the crown or to the head of
the _civitas_ as a public officer.

Of the fines and forfeitures paid into the _publicum_, we find that a
part went to the royal treasury and a part to the _judex_, and in some
cases to the informer or the prosecuting officer; and at different
times we find these proportionate amounts definitely defined--as, for
instance, in the time of Charlemagne two parts went to the king and
one part to the count who acted as _judex_;[36] this we know from two
of the Lombard laws of that emperor.[37] In one of these,[38] speaking
of those who evaded military service, he says: "Heribannum comes
exactare non praesumat: nisi Missus noster prius Heribannum ad partem
nostram recipiat, et ei," the Count, "suam tertiam partem exinde per
jussionem nostram donet."[39] We even find evidence of quite a large
amount of liberty used by the _duces_ in the ultimate disposal of
property coming under their jurisdiction by forfeiture, the more
powerful making use of it precisely as if it were private property.
For example, in the Chronica Farfensis[40] appears a case judged by
Hildeprandus, _dux_ of Spoleto, in the year 787. A certain nun named
Alerona, for having married a man named Rabennonus, "secundum legem
omnis substantia ipsius ad Publicum devoluta est"; a little later
Ra