Hermandad

In Spanish law. A fraternity formed among different towns and villages to prevent the commission of crimes, and to prevent the abuses and vexations to which they were subjected by men in power. To carry into effect the object of this association, each village and town elected two alcaldes, — one by the nobility, and the other by the community at large. These had under their order inferior officers, formed into companies, called cuad villeros. Their duty was to arrest delinquents and bring them before the alcaldes, when they were tried substantially in the ordinary form. This tribunal, established during the anarchy prevailing in feudal times, continued to maintain its organization in Spain for centuries; and various laws determining its jurisdiction and mode of proceeding were enacted by Ferdinand and Isabella and subsequent monarchs. Nov. Recop. tit.

35, bk. 12, § 7.

The abuses introduced in the exercise of the functions of these tribunals caused their abolition, and the santas hermandades of Ciudad Rodrigo, Talavera, and Toledo, the last remnants of these anomalous jurisdictions, were abolished by the law of the 7th of May, 1835. Called, also, "Santa Hermandad." HERMAPHRODITUS TAM MASCULO quam foeminae comparatur, secundum praevalentiam sexus incalesccntis. An hermaphrodite is to be considered male or female according to the predominance of the exciting sex.

Co. Litt. 8; Bracton, fol. 5.