Excerpt from Belgium, Its Institutions, Industries and Commerce Communal franchises and citizens' rights were allowed ever since the xuth century, and were almost the same in the north as in the south; the Kings of Spain as well as the Emperors of Austria swore to respect them, as Dukes of Brabant, Limburg and Luxemburg, Counts of Flanders, Hainault and Namur, when these territories, from a purely personal union, became dependencies of their crown. The prince-bishops of Liege, elected by their chapter, governed in freedom during well-nigh ten centuries, nearly a quarter of the territory. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.