FRANCHISE is also used for an asylum or sanctuary, where people are secure of their persons, &c. Churches and monasteries in Spain are franchises for criminals; so were they anciently in England, till they were abused to such a degree that there was a necessity for abolishing the custom. One of the most remarkable capitulars made by Charlemagne in his palace of Herstal, in 779, was that relating to the franchises of churches. The right of franchise was held so sacred, that even the less religious kings observed it to a degree of scrupulosity: but to such excess in time was it carried, that Charlemagne resolved to reduce it. Accordingly he forbade any provision being carried to criminals retired into churches for refuge.