VENETIAN SUPREMACY
a peculiarly Serbo-Dalmatian one, and deserves examination. The statute of 1272 describes it as an antica consuetudo. It was of two kinds, the plenarium stanicum, or full court, and the parvum, or minor court. The full stanicum was agreed upon by the Government of Ragusa and that of some other State with whom the former had a dispute. Each side elected an equal number of judges, who met at some place easily accessible to both capitals, and, if possible, on neutral ground, i.e. in the territory of some State not concerned in the dispute. Thus in disputes between Ragusa and Zara the spot chosen was Santa Maria di Lesina, on the island of that name; for those between Ragusa and Sebenico, Trail, Spalato, Almissa, or Lesina, the stanicum met at or near Prevlaka (near Stagno) ; if the quarrel was with Hlum, at Malfi ; if with the Serbs, at Gionchetto or Cresta ; if with the Bosnians, at Trebinje, Popovo, or Canali. The dispute was settled by compromise rather than by arbitration, and each party was represented by State officials. The parvum stanicum was convened to settle private disputes between Ragusans and citizens of one of the Slave states (it was not resorted to in the case of disputes with the other Dalmatian towns). The presence of representatives of the two States was not necessary. But often when such disputes arose the parties would agree to defer settling them until the full stanicum met, provided that such a one was to take place shortly. It was not necessary that all private international disputes should be settled in this manner, and the plaintiff was free to summon his adversary before the latter’s own tribunal. He only resorted to it when he feared that he could not