Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/187

Rh his actions which might have been expected. He was permitted, in case he disapproved of any order, to appeal to the Court of Egard, and to persist in his disobedience until the sentence of that court should have been pronounced.

This Court of Egard was originally established as a tribunal before which any dispute arising between members of the fraternity might be brought to trial or arbitration. It had its origin at a very early date in the annals of the institution, and although, as time wore on and wrought changes in the Order, certain alterations in the Egard were also introduced, still it always remained the same in principle. Even until the very last years of the knights’ existence as a sovereign body, this court continued to be the principal, nay, the only tribunal of appeal before which they sought redress for their grievances.

It was composed of one member from each langue, whose appointment rested with the langues themselves. Over these a president was placed, named by the Grand-Master. It will be seen that, by this arrangement, the langue to which the president belonged would have two votes, whilst each of the others had but one. It was in this way, and in this way only, that the Grand-Master could exercise any influence in its decisions. On the assembly of the Egard, either of the disputants had the right of challenge, the person objected to being, in such case, replaced by another member of the same langue. The cause having been gone into, the depositions of the witnesses, which were verbal and never reduced to writing, were summed up. At this stage the disputants were directed to withdraw, the members of the Egard discussed the ease with closed doors, and gave in their verdict by ballot. The parties were then called back into court, and, before the result of the ballot was made known, they were asked whether they were willing to abide by the award of the Egard. If they assented, the ballot-papers were examined, and the votes of the majority carried the cause.

Should, however, either of the parties have refused to abide by the award, the votes were nevertheless examined and recorded, and a new court was assembled to act as a court of appeal. This was called the renfort of the Egard, and its constitution was the same as the first, except that the number of members was doubled. From the decision of this court a