Femesole

[0. Fr. sole, single.] ( Law. ) A single or unmarried woman. now bring forward six witne es in his favor, the accuser might strengthen his oath with fourteen witne es; and sentence of acquittal did not nece arily follow until the accused had supported his case with the oaths of twenty one witne es. The judges were all armed, and dre ed in black gowns, with a cowl that covered their faces like a mask. The condemned, as well as those who did not obey the summons, were then given over to the Freischöffen. The first Freischöffe who met him was bound to hang him on a tree; and if he made any resistance, it was lawful to put him to death in any other way; and a knife was left by the corpse, to indicate that it was a punishment inflicted by one of the Freischöffen. The punishment, however, was rarely inflicted on those who readily appeared, the judges being satisfied with cautioning the offender to redre the wrong he had been guilty of. At length a great outcry was raised against these courts, and in 1461 various princes and cities of Germany, as well as the Swi Confederates, united in a league to resist the free judges, and to require that the trial of accused persons should take place in open day. Their influence, however, was not entirely destroyed until the public peace was established in Germany, and an amended form of trial and penal judicature introduced. Gæthe, in his Götz von Berlichingen , has given an account of the workings of these secret tribunals; but the best historical account of them is by Paul Wigand, Das Fehmgericht Westfalens , Hamm., 1825. Fem'inal, a . Pertaining to a woman, or to the female sex.