Hermandad

(Santa,) (hair-man'dad.) [Sp., holy brotherhood.] (Sp. Hist.) A kind of vigilance committee formerly established among the rural di sts. in Spain, for the prevention of crime and the suppre ion of obnoxious abuses. Each a ociation was under the jurisdiction of two alcaldes, or magistrates, one elected by the nobility of the dist., and the other by the common people at large. They were abolished in 1835. Hermann, or HERR'MANN. See ARM IN I US. [s. 452]