But this authority, great as it was, never could by its very nature be stretched to despotism; because any despotic act would have shocked the only principle by which that authority was supported, the general good opinion.

On the other hand, it could not have been bounded by any positive laws, because laws can hardly subsist amongst a people who have not the use of letters.

It was a species of arbitrary power, softened by the popularity from whence it arose.

It came from popular opinion, and by popular opinion it was corrected.
If people so barbarous as the Germans have no laws, they have yet customs that serve in their room; and these customs operate amongst them better than laws, because they become a sort of Nature both to the governors and the governed.

This circumstance in some measure removed all fear of the abuse of authority, and induced the Germans to permit their chiefs[49] to decide upon matters of lesser moment, their private differences,--for so Tacitus explains the _minores res_.