Juridical Dissertation on Contumacy

[The instructions of the Emperor in § 3 of the proem of the Institutes] ...I have received nothing useless, nothing placed incorrectly, and nothing that does not hold its place in the very arguments of things: I truly have reason both to publicly commend the faith of these Best of Preceptors and to congratulate myself profusely on their perpetual favor. Nor was it necessary to ponder long (by the will of those whom I judged it impious to resist), as I meditated upon a specimen of my studies of whatever kind, from where I might draw an argument worthy of the public light. All our Jurisprudence looks to practice and has as its goal the promotion of civil happiness through a decent order of trials. This order, and the ready administration of Law and Justice, since the malice of litigants themselves often tends to impede it, especially when they do not make themselves available to the Judge and, by their contumacious absence, halt the course of Justice, I have selected the present theme of Contumacy (so that I might make a trial of my meager progress in Civil Jurisprudence). Had I wished to weigh more accurately the difficulty of so vast a material, or to attend to the frequent complaints of the Doctors who concern themselves with it, I would have immediately thrown down my pen, or certainly turned myself to easier subjects more suited to a youthful age, had not the most certain hope that my efforts, though unequal to the task, would easily find forgiveness among fair and sensible arbiters, confirmed me in my purpose and held me to my Contumacy.

But You, O Best and Greatest GOD, assist my beginnings and direct them to the glory of Your most holy name.