{"product_id":"2940013048676","title":"THE CHIEF JUSTICE","description":"CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the Higher Court of Bolosch, an important Germano-Slavonic town of\u003cbr\u003enorthern Austria, there sat as Chief Justice some thirty years ago, one\u003cbr\u003eof the bravest and best of those men on whom true justice might\u003cbr\u003ehopefully rely in that sorely tried land.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles Victor, Baron von Sendlingen, as he may be called in this\u003cbr\u003erecord of his fate, was the last descendant of a very ancient and\u003cbr\u003emeritorious race which could trace its origin to a collateral branch of\u003cbr\u003ethe Franconian Emperors, and which had once upon a time possessed rich\u003cbr\u003elands and mines on the shores of the Wörther See: now indeed by reason\u003cbr\u003eof an adverse fate and the love of splendour of some of its scions,\u003cbr\u003ethere had gradually come to be nothing left of all this save a series\u003cbr\u003eof high sounding titles. But the decline of fame and influence had not\u003cbr\u003ekept pace with the loss of lands and wealth; the Sendlingens had\u003cbr\u003eentered the service of the Hapsburgs and in the last two hundred years\u003cbr\u003ehad given the Austrian Hereditary Dominions not only several brave\u003cbr\u003egenerals, but an almost unbroken line of administrators and guardians\u003cbr\u003eof Justice. And so, although they were entirely dependent on their\u003cbr\u003eslender official salaries, they were reckoned with good reason among\u003cbr\u003ethe first families of the Empire, and a Sendlingen might from his\u003cbr\u003ecradle count upon the office of Chief Justice of one of the Higher\u003cbr\u003eCourts. Even unkind envy, to say nothing of honest report, was obliged\u003cbr\u003eto admit that these hereditary patricians of Justice had always shown\u003cbr\u003ethemselves worthy of their sacred office, and just as they regularly\u003cbr\u003einherited certain physical characteristics--great stature, bright eyes\u003cbr\u003eand coal-black curly hair--so also gifted intellects, iron industry and\u003cbr\u003ea sense of duty which often enough bordered on self-denial, were always\u003cbr\u003etheirs. \"The majesty of the Law is the most sacred majesty on earth.\"\u003cbr\u003eThus spake the first of this family who had entered the service of the\u003cbr\u003eImperial Courts of Justice, the Baron Victor Amadeus, Chief Judge of\u003cbr\u003ethe Vienna Senate, in answer to an irregular demand of Ferdinand the\u003cbr\u003eCatholic, and his descendants held fast to the maxim in good days and\u003cbr\u003eevil, even in those worst days when Themis threatened, in this country\u003cbr\u003ealso, to sink to the level of the venal mistress of Princes. The\u003cbr\u003egreatest of the Hapsburgs, Joseph II., knew how to value this at its\u003cbr\u003eright worth, and although he much disliked hereditary offices, he on\u003cbr\u003ethis account appointed the Baron Charles Victor, in spite of his youth,\u003cbr\u003eas his father's successor in one of the most important offices of the\u003cbr\u003eState.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068705390832,"sku":"2940013048676","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013048676_p0.jpg?v=1763576195","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013048676","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}