justices, which varied in number, sometimes, as in the Court of the Countess of Champagne, amounting to sixteen. Whether these ladies possessed an authority co-equal with the Countess, or whether they were only called in to assist her with their advice, does not seem very clear.* It is still more difficult to discover by what sanctions these illustrious tribunals enforced obedience to their decrees. M. Raynouard conjectures that no judicial process issued on the judgement; but that public opinion was so strongly in favour of these institutions, that even the most obstinate knight would not have the hardihood to disobey their injunctions. Indeed, when we consider that the judgement of the Court frequently included a command either to love, or to abstain from loving, it is not surprising that they did not attempt to enforce their decrees upon the heart, where, in the language of our English lawyers, the process of the Courts does not run. With regard to the extent of their jurisdiction, it should seem that they took cognizance of all affairs of love and gallantry without any exception, and that, occasionally, they even condescended to decide hypothetical questions. With the decline of the spirit of chivalry, the Courts of Love also began to disappear; it is probable that few remained longer than the middle of the fourteenth century.

* In the first case, the Court might be assimilated to the meeting of our Justices of the Peace, at "les General Quarter Sessions, où sont appelés tous les juges de paix du comté, et où ils se reunissent quelquefois au nombre de douze ou quinze, et quelquefois au nombre de trente ou quarante."-(See Cottu de l'Administration de la Justice en Angleterre, p. 25.) In the latter case, it would closely resemble our Court of Chancery, when the Chancellor calls to his assistance a certain number of the Common Law Judges as Assessors. It is not, however, in the Courts of Love alone, that ladies have presided. In France, where women succeeded to the peerage, there are instances on record of their personally presiding in their own Courts, even over judicial combats. Mahaut, the Countess of Artois, assisted at the trial of Robert of Flanders, and at the ceremony of the coronation of Philip the Long, and, with other peers, supported the Crown. Even in our own country, women have filled judicial situations, and sat upon juries. The celebrated Ann, Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery, had the office of hereditary Sheriff of Westmoreland. At the assizes at Appleby, she sat with the judges on the bench.Vide Butl. notes to Co. Litl.-A woman may be of the homage in a customary Court; and even in a Court Baron, to present, &c. she shall not sit as a judge to try issues, &c.—2 Inst. 119. Gilbert's Ten. by Walk. 475.

But

†This last position, however, seems doubtful.-Quære, however, whether an attachment might not issue?

Of the proceedings of these Courts we have but few memorials transmitted to us, if we except the work of André, the chaplain. Some scattered passages in the verses of the Troubadours, which sometimes contain allusions to them, serve but to cast a very uncertain light on the subject. In André, the chaplain, however, we have many of the judgements given at length, some of which we shall shortly have occasion to extract. The curious little volumes at the head of the present article, do not, unfortunately, contain authentic reports of the decisions, though we must say, that were we to judge from the internal evidence, we should have some difficulty in distinguishing them from the real reports.

The author of Les Arrets d'Amours was Martial de Paris, or d'Auvergne, a French lawyer, poet, and wit, who flourished about the middle of the fifteenth century. Very little is known of his history. In addition to Les Arrets d'Amours, he was the author of a poem of some length, entitled, Les Vigiles de la mort du Roy Charles VII. à neuf pseaumes & neuf Leçons: contenant la Chronique & les faits advenus durant la vie du dit Roy; first published in the year 1493. Two other poems are also ascribed to him, namely, Les devotes louanges à la Vierge Marie. Paris, 1492; and L'Amant rendu Cordelier à l'Observance d'Amour. Lyons, 1545. The latter of these poems is printed

in our edition of the Arrets. In most of the later editions of this work, the text is accompanied with the commentaries of Benoit de Court, or Benedictus Curtius, a celebrated jurisconsult of the sixteenth century. These notes, which are written in the same spirit as the text, contain a vast fund of curious and amusing illustration, chiefly drawn from the classical authors of Rome, and from the books of the civil and canon law. In the few extracts we shall make, we shall endeavour to render these reports more interesting to the English reader, by adding such annotations and remarks, drawn from our own law, as may serve to shew its similitude or discrepancy with the ancient laws and usages of the Courts of Love.

The reports commence with a prologue in verse, which, although rather long, is exceedingly curious, and which, but for its length, we should have been induced to give.* It de

It may at first sight seem derogatory to the seriousness of a Reporter of law-cases, to prefix a copy of verses to his work. We certainly do not recollect any instance of this in our own law. It must not, however, on that account be supposed, that the Sages of our Courts have been insensible to the charms of the Muses. In proof of this, it may, perhaps, be sufficient to mention, that the substance of Lord Coke's Reports has been turned into verse by a learned hand. That revered Nestor of our law has, indeed, himself expressly recom

scribes the supposed Courts of Love, at which the author heard the judgements given which he has reported. A very particular account is given of the various personages who composed the Court, and even their dresses are minutely described; thus we are told, that the lady judges were clothed in green, with collars of gold, and so richly perfumed that it was impossible to sit near them without sneezing.

We shall now proceed with our extracts; premising, that we have, in our translations, occasionally taken the liberty of omitting a sentence or two, which did not seem suited to our object, and that we have endeavoured to preserve something of the technical form in which they appear in the original.

"This was an action brought in the Court of the Chief Justice of Love, in the province of Beauty, by the plaintiff, a Lover, against his Lady, defendant, in order to obtain the rescinding of a contract.

"The contract appeared to be as follows. The plaintiff agreed to walk once or twice a-week at midnight, for a certain time before the door of the defendant, who promised, in return, to throw him a nosegay or a bunch of violets. After stating the contract in his declaration, the plaintiff made the following averments:

"The said plaintiff, in fact, says, that he did, on divers nights, attend at the place so agreed upon as aforesaid; but that the said defendant then and there wholly neglected to attend; and that he, the said plaintiff, on those said several occasions, was obliged to, and actually did, perambulate the street without either fire or light:

"And the said plaintiff further, in fact, says, that frequently on the said several occasions, when he, the said plaintiff, was on the point of departing, he saw a light in the window of the said defendant, with which the soul of him, the said plaintiff, was so ravished and transported, that he knew not what to do. That, on the said several occasions, he hath waited divers long spaces of time, sometimes the whole night, walking up and down, in very great dread lest he the said plaintiff should catch and be afflicted with cold or rheumatism, for that in winter the frost and snow were so severe, that the flesh of him, the said plaintiff, lost its feeling, and the teeth of him, the said plaintiff, then and there chattered in his head.

"And the said plaintiff further, in fact, says, that the said bad weather frequently compelled him to return to his hotel, he, the said plaintiff, being then and there wet to the skin, without having or receiving any other reward or recompense, than being allowed to kiss the bell of the said defendant's door; and that, on reaching his hotel, he hath frequently been compelled to change his clothes, which said

mended the study of poetry to the diligent student. "Verses, at first," says he, "were invented for the help of memorie, and it standeth well with the gravity of our lawyers to cite them."-Vide 1st Inst. 237a. So, again," authoritates philosophorum, medicorum et poetarum, sunt in causis allegandæ et tenendæ."--Id. 264a.

clothes were then and there damaged and destroyed by the wet; and he hath also been compelled to purchase, and actually hath purchased, divers new suits of clothes, on the occasions last aforesaid, which hath been, and still is, a very great charge to, and grievance upon him, the said plaintiff; in the statement of all which grievances, the said plaintiff hath not taken into account the hazard to which he, the said plaintiff, was exposed, of being recognized by Danger*, or the Watch.

"And the said plaintiff further, in fact, says, that, on many of the said several occasions, he, the said plaintiff, by reason of the darkness, walked into and amongst certain heaps of mud, and into certain kennels and sewers, whereby he was much discomposed and dirtied, and did also break the shins of him, the said plaintiff, against certain large stones, and run against certain coaches, then and there driving and passing. Wherefore, he concluded, that the contract was unreasonable, and that he had been grossly deceived; and he required the said contract to be declared null and void, and prayed judgement of his damages and costs.

"The defendant, after making defence, pleaded that the said plaintiff had no cause of complaint. Because, she said, that she, the said defendant, had suffered many greater hardships in the premises than the said plaintiff; and that she was then, and at all times thereafter, when it should please Love, ready and willing to depart from and renounce the said contract; but the said defendant submitted, that the same could not by law be annulled. And she further

said, that such annulling as aforesaid, would be a grievous stain on the character of her, the said defendant, who had never theretofore been supposed capable of deceiving any man. And she further said, that, as to the walking of him, the said plaintiff, before the door of her, the said defendant, at the several times aforesaid, shame it was for him, the said plaintiff, thereof to make complaint. And she further said, that she, the said defendant, had suffered and endured, at the said several times aforesaid, much greater and more grievous hardship than he, the said plaintiff: in this, to wit, that when and as often as she, the said defendant, expected the said plaintiff to arrive, she, the said defendant, was, for the space of three hours before the period last aforesaid, in a certain ecstacy, and knew not what to do. And she further said, that though true it was, that she, the said defendant, did occasionally eat and drink, yet protesting that her heart was solely the property of the said plaintiff, she said, that the said waiting of the said plaintiff did grievously discompose her, the said defendant. And she further said, that she frequently could not appear, at the said several times aforesaid, through dread of Danger, from whom it was necessary for her, the said defendant, to make her escape, which, she averred, was, by the moiety, a much

髅 By this expressive term, the husband of the Lady is, in general, designated in the Arrets d'Amours. It is so used by Alain Chartier, and the other early French poets, on account, according to the learned commentator, Benoit de Court, of the perils which a Lover incurred in case the intrigue was detected.

greater hardship and pain, than the said supposed suffering of him, the said plaintiff. For that, upon the occasions last aforesaid, it frequently became, and was necessary for her, the said defendant, to feign and pretend that she, the said defendant, was asleep, whereas, in truth and in fact, she was at that time awake; and also, to feign and pretend that she was weeping, whereas, in truth and in fact, she was at that time very strongly inclined to laugh. And she further said, that as to the cold, shame indeed it was for him, the said plaintiff, thereof to make complaint; for that it had been, from time immemorial, the duty of a Lover never to be cold, even though the frost should split rocks. And she further said, that if he, the said plaintiff, suffered pain and trouble at the said several times aforesaid, on his part and behalf, so likewise did she, the said defendant, on her part and behalf, to wit, in finding some means of escape to the said window whereat she, the said defendant, wearing and being clothed with certain very light garments, did wait for the space of two long hours, watching on which side he, the said plaintiff, should make his approach. And she further said, that the said plaintiff had, at the said several times aforesaid, much pleasanter means of passing his time than she, the said defendant. For that, in waiting as aforesaid, he, the said plaintiff, might and could walk up and down and repeat his 'hours' and orisons; and that there was not on those occasions any one to hinder him, the said plaintiff, from so doing. And she further said, as to the said rain and snow, that the same had no terrors for a true Lover; and as to the said large stones, and the said accidents which he, the said plaintiff, was above supposed to have met with, she said, that such evils never happened to those who have a perfect trust in Love, and who are never guilty of treason, falsehood, or other misprision against him. And she further said, that all the said supposed grievances of the said plaintiff, whereof he had made complaint as aforesaid, were not to be compared with the grievances of her, the said defendant: for that she, the said defendant, bestowed more care and diligence, in one day, in gathering the said violets, than he, the said plaintiff, expended in the course of one whole year; and that, in truth and in fact, there could be no comparison between the benefit and pleasure received by him, the said plaintiff, and by her, the said defendant, respectively. And she further said, that the thread wherewith she, the said defendant, bound, tied, and fastened the said nosegays and violets, so to him, the said plaintiff, in that behalf given and presented as aforesaid, was of much greater value than all that she, the said defendant, had ever received from him, the said plaintiff. Wherefore, she said, that there was no deceit in the said contract, and that it ought not to be rescinded without the consent of her, the said defendant, to obtain which, she prayed that the said defendant might be directed to attend her. And she prayed judgement and her costs.

"The cause having come on to be tried, the Court gave judgement that the plaintiff had shewn no cause for rescinding the said contract, and a specific performance thereof was decreed at the pleasure of the defendant, and costs were given."