Consequently the only safe way to give a clear
idea of the position and the powers of the _judex_, is to give a
description of the various offices to which judicial authority was
attached, in degrees more or less complete, corresponding to the
social and political importance of the person exercising this
authority.
In the Lombard system, at the head of each _civitas_, as lord and as
judge, was the _dux_, or duke. His title and his office being but the
relic of his original high position of leadership in the army of the
invasion, when his command was only subject to that of the king, the
leader-in-chief of the army-nation and head of the military
constitution, he held directly from the king, attended the royal
_placita_ as the king's vassal, and held _placita_ of his own within
his own jurisdiction, and over which he presided in person. Beyond the
duties of his own particular jurisdiction his chief office was to
assist the king by his presence and his counsel, when the king gave
his judgments at the annual assembly in March, at the capital Ticinum.
The importance of this concurrence of the _judices_ in all the king's
decrees and official acts is illustrated by the fact that cases are
rare in which this concurrence remains unmentioned. The usual practice
is to introduce in the prologue which is commonly attached to the laws
given out during each year of the king's reign, after the mention of
the date "Kalendiis Martiarum," some such expression as "cum nostris
Judicibus";[17] or "ad nos conjungerentur Judices";[18] or "per
suggestionem Judicum";[19] to which is sometimes added the formula
"omniumque consensum,"[19] or "cum reliquis nostris Langobardis
fidelis.
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