time. Both of them are historical sources of extraordinary value for the knowledge of the legal rules and other conditions in the Czech towns and for the knowledge of the development of the town-books in Bo- hemia of the 14. century. Either of these two books yields us an infor- mation of a different character, that of Prague being a council-board book which contains entries refering to the administration of the town, whereas that of Nový Bydžov being a judicial book. The title of the book, Liber consciencie, is comprised in the words of the proem of the book itself (Tab. II., pag. 22), and this proem informs us, that the Book of Conscience ought to have been divided into two parts; the first by far greater part of the book ought to contain the entries of assignments of estates both real and personal (by will, donation, cession — »vendicio hereditatum et possessionum«), the second part the entries of criminal proceedings (de excessibus). This division was given up very soon, and the records of the criminal proceedings were put down on the blank pages of the first part of the book (e. g. tab. IV., pag. 24). By the word »consciencia« the declaration is meant that is in full con- formity to one's conscience, i. e. evidence given at the bar of justice by trustworthy men. The book doesn't contain the records of all the stages of legal proceedings — it only registers the results attested by the bench, the judge and the jurats. The entry in the book substituted the deed being no mere copy of it. It is beyond all question, that the Liber consciencie doesn't contain the entries of all the assignments that had been settled at the bar of justice. An entry was registered (on demand of the parties) when reffering to things of great importance, and particularly in that case, when the legal effect of the settlement should come into force after the expiration of a considerable space of time (legacies etc.). The parties, howerer, were quite satisfied with oral proceedings, when a contract of purchasing some real estate or any other agreement were in action, the effect of which should become valid without any delay. Though the foundation of the book, described in the text of the ta- ble V.—VI., was performed in a solemn way in the presence of Hen- linus, the villicus (king's official resembling the English sheriff) of the district of Hradec Králové, which comprised Nový Bydžov by that time too (par. 2 of the t. V.: ».... istud registrum est confirmatum, ut supra diximus, cum consensu et auxilio Henlini, villici Gradycensis, qui ex parte domini regis Bohemie fuit datus in seniorem et promotorem«). though the book itself often emphasizes its own importance for securing [ 16 ]