AYUNTAMIENTO, a-yoon'ia-myan'to, the name given in Spain to municipal councils. Firmly established during the struggles with the Moors, the ayuntamientos acquired great in fluence and political power the nobility being admitted to them without their class privileges. The Cortes, in 1812, adopted the leading features of the former system. On the return of Ferdi nand VII, the ayuntamientos were abolished, but restored in 1837. The ayuntamientos were empowered to make up the lists of electors and jurors, to organize the national guards, to corn mand the police within their own bounds, to di rect the appointment and raising of taxes and to manage the funds of the commune. The municipal law of 1870 deprived them of all po litical authority, and reg-tilated them as adminis trative bodies, subject in certain respects to the authorities of the provinces, the law courts and the Cortes.
AZAIS, Pierre Hyacinthe, French philosopher: b. Soreze 1766; d. Paris 1845. He spent his early years as a teacher and a vil lage organist. ,At the outbreak of the Revolu tion be viewed it with favor, but was soon dis gusted at the violence of its methods. A critical
pamphlet drew upon him the hatred of the revolutionists, and it was not until 1806 that he was able to settle in Paris. In 1809 he published his great work 'Des Compensations dans les destinees humaines,> which pleased Napoleon so much that he made its author professor at Saint Cyr. In 1811 he became in spector of the public library at Avignon, and from 1812 to 1815 he held the same position at Nancy. The Restoration government at first suspected him as a Bonapartist, but at length granted him a pension. From that time he occupied himself in lecturing and in the pub lication of philosophical works. In the 'Com pensations> he sought to prove that, on the whole, happiness and misery are equally balanced, and therefore that men should accept the government which is given them rather than risk the horrors of revolution. His other works are 'Systeme universe!) (1812) ; Sort de l'homme) (1820) 'De la phrenologie, du magnetisme, et de la folie) (1843).