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The Vehmic courts, ''Vehmgericht'', holy vehme, or simply Vehm, also spelt ''Feme'', ''Vehmegericht'', ''Fehmgericht'',〔OED, s.v. ''Vehmgericht''.〕 are names given to a "proto-vigilante" tribunal system of Westphalia in Germany active during the later Middle Ages, based on a fraternal organisation of lay judges called “free judges” ((ドイツ語:Freischöffen) or (フランス語:francs-juges)). The original seat of the courts was in Dortmund. Proceedings were sometimes secret, leading to the alternative titles of “secret courts” ((ドイツ語:heimliches Gericht)), “silent courts” ((ドイツ語:Stillgericht)), or “forbidden courts” ((ドイツ語:verbotene Gerichte)). After the execution of a death sentence, the corpse could be hung on a tree to advertise the fact and deter others. The peak of activity of these courts was during the 14th to 15th centuries, with lesser activity attested for the 13th and 16th centuries, and scattered evidence establishing their continued existence during the 17th and 18th centuries. They were finally abolished by order of Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia, in 1811. The Vehmic courts were the regional courts of Westphalia which, in turn, were based on the county courts of Franconia. They received their jurisdiction from the Holy Roman Emperor, from whom they also received the capacity to pronounce capital punishment ((ドイツ語:Blutgericht)) which they exercised in his name. Everywhere else the power of life and death, originally reserved to the Emperor alone, had been usurped by the territorial nobles; only in Westphalia, called “the Red Earth” because here the imperial ''Blutbann'' was still valid, were capital sentences passed and executed by the Fehmic courts in the Emperor's name alone. ==Etymology== The term's origin is uncertain, but seems to enter Middle High German from Middle Low German. The word ''vëme'' first appears in the Middle High German literature of the 13th century as a noun with the meaning of "punishment". A document dated to 1251 has the reference ''illud occultum judicium, quod vulgariter vehma seu vridinch appellari consuevit.'' ("It is hidden justice, that by common fashion is habitually referred to as ''vehma'' or ''vridinch''.") The general meaning of "punishment" is unrelated to the special courts of Westphalia which were thus originally just named "courts of punishment". But as the word entered the Southern German dialects via Saxony and Westphalia, the word's meaning in Early Modern German became attached to the activities of these courts specifically. Jacob Grimm thought that the word is identical in origin to a homophonous word for the raising of pigs on forest pastures (Hutewald), just as the more familiar German ''Zucht'' can mean both breeding and discipline.〔''aus ziehen flieszt ''zucht'' nutritio, disciplina, castigatio, poena, wie der landmann sein vieh in die mast führt, wird der missethäter in den kerker oder tod geführt und erleidet züchtigung.'' (''Deutsches Wörterbuch)''〕 Grimm considers the spelling with ''h'' unetymological in spite of its early occurrence in some 13th century documents, and hypothesizes a "lost root" "''fëmen''", connecting with Old Norse ''fimr'' and conjecturing a Gothic "''fiman, fam, fêmun?''". During 18th to 19th century Romanticism, there were various misguided attempts to explain the obscure term, or to elevate it to the status of a remnant of pagan antiquity, scoffed at by Grimm's entry in his ''Deutsches Wörterbuch''.〔''KLOPSTOCK 9, 322. 10, 258. 316 hat sogar die altn. ''dîsir'' (verunstaltet in ''düsen'') zu 'Göttinnen der Fehm' gemacht, die falsche Deutung ist der schlechten Formen werth. Wie viel Schriftsteller des 18 jh. sind mit der heiligen Fehme aufs übelste verfahren.''〕 A particularly fanciful etymology, suggested by James Skene in 1824, derives the word from ''Baumgericht'' (Lit. "Tree law"), supposedly the remnant of a pagan "forest law" of the Wild hunt and pagan secret societies.〔pg. 179 'Magical Alphabets' Nigel Pennick ISBN 0-87728-747-3〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vehmic court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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