Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/119

ci 11. i functions of cones. ARAGON. precautions, " says Blancas, " did our ancestors sectio;s' establish that freedom which their posterity have enjoyed ; manifesting a wise solicitude, that all orders of men, even kings themselves, confined within their own sphere, should discharge their legitimate functions without jostling or jarring with one another ; for in this harmony consists the temperance of our government. Alas ! " he adds, " how much of all this has fallen into desuetude from its antiquity, or been effaced by new cus- toms. " ^^ The judicial functions of the cortes have not Judi' been sufficiently noticed by writers. They were extensive in their operation, and gave it the name of the General Court. They were principally di- rected to protect the subject from the oppressions of the crown and its officers; over all which cases it possessed original and ultimate jurisdiction. The suit was conducted before the Justice, as president of the cortes, in its judicial capacity, who delivered an opinion conformable to the will of the majority.^^ 44 The patriotism of Blancas nere virtutum floruere, ut egregia warms as he dwells on the illu- hasc laus videatur non hominum so- sory picture of ancient virtue, and lum, verum illorum etiam tempo- contrasts it with the degeneracy of rum fuisse." Commentarii, p. 340. his own day. " Et vero prisca 45 Jt was more frequently refer- haec tanta severitas, desertaque ilia red, both for the sake of expe- et inculta vita, quando dies noc- dition, and of obtaining a more tesque nostri armati concursabant, full investigation, to commissioners ac in hello et Maurorum sanguine nominated conjointly by the cortes assidui versabantur ; ver6 quidem and the party demanding redress, parsimoniae, fortitudinis, temperan- The nature of the greuges, or tiae, caeterarumque virtutum omni- grievances, which might be brought um magistra fuit. In qua maleficia before the legislature, and the ac scelera, quae nunc in otiosa hac mode of proceeding in relation to nostra umbratili et delicata gignun- them, are circumstantially detailed tur, gigni non solebant ; quinimmo by the parliamentary historians of ita tunc asqualiter omnes omni ge- Aragon. See Berart, Discurso so-