But though the general strain of the Anglo-Saxon government seems to
have become aristocratical, there were still considerable remains of
the ancient democracy, which were not indeed sufficient to protect the
lowest of the people, without the patronage of some great lord, but
might give security, and even some degree of dignity, to the gentry or
inferior nobility. The administration of justice, in particular, by
the courts of the decennary, the hundred, and the county, was well
calculated to defend general liberty, and to restrain the power of the
nobles. In the county courts, or shiremotes, all the freeholders were
assembled twice a year, and received appeals from the inferior courts.
They there decided all causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil; and the
bishop, together with the alderman or earl, presided over them.[**]
The affair was determined in a summary manner, without much pleading
formality, or delay, by a majority of voices; and the bishop and
alderman had no further authority than to keep order among the
freeholders, and interpose with their opinion.[***] Where justice was
denied during three sessions by the hundred, and then by the county
court, there lay an appeal to the king's court;[****] but this was not
practised on slight occasions.
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