Page:The "Trial" of Ferrer - A Clerical Judicial Murder (IA 2916970.0001.001.umich.edu).pdf/45

 and all his property will fires, the looting, ete. rcmain attached until the complete extinction of this civil responsibility," and it was so decreed by the tribunal. The Church wanted to get rid, not only of Ferrer's per- son, but also of the means which he could have left to his followers. The step taken in the scntence, amounted to nothing less than a confiscation of Ferrer's property, an act expressly forbidden by At. 10 of the Spanish Consti- tution, "the penalty of confiscation of property shall never be imposed." It is very curious to see how the tribunal, obeying of course orders from above, was led to thus defy the Con- stitution. The enemies of Ferrer, see him made civilly responsible for the losses sustained by the victims of the insurrection so as to deprive his heirs and followers of his fortune; but here came the hitch; Art. 742 of the Penal Code establishes that "all the questions relative to civil responsibility must be re- solved in the sentence." But how were the judges going to resolve such responsibility in this case, before the damages and casualities were established, and before the responsi- bility of the other men indicted in the same case was estab- lished? Evidently they would have had to suspend judg- ment until then; but that would not do at all, for, as we have already seen, the trial, sentence and execution, had to be hurried posthaste. What to do to remain within the legal text? This is the somersault that the Assessor, veritable jug- gler-at-law, proposed to the judges to turn: "We must re- member what is provided by Art. 6 of the Civil Code: The tribunal which will refuse to decide on pretext of silence, obscurity or insufficiency of the law, will share re- eponsibility. When there is no law exactly applicable to the point, the custom of the place will be applied, and' course, wanted to