The aldermen received a third of the
fines levied in those courts;[*****] and as most of the punishments
were then pecuniary, this perquisite formed a considerable part of the
profits belonging to his office. The two thirds also, which went to the
king, made no contemptible part of the public revenue. Any free-holder
was fined who absented himself thrice from these courts.[******]
[* Higden, lib, i. cap. 50. LL. Edw. Conf. sect.
26. Spel. Concil vol. i. p. 415. Gloss, in verbo. Haligemot
ot Infangenthefe.]
[** LL. Edg. sect. 5. Wilkins, p. 78. LL. Cantit.
sect. 17. Wilkins. p. 136.]
[*** Hickes, Dissert, epist. p. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
8.]
[**** LL. Edg. sect. 2. Wilkins, p. 77. LL. Canut.
sect. 18, apud Wilkins, p. 136.]
[***** LL. Edw. Conf. sect. 31].
[****** LL. Ethelst. sect, 20.]
As the extreme ignorance of the age made deeds and writings very rare,
the county or hundred court was the place where the most remarkable
civil transactions were finished, in order to preserve the memory of
them, and prevent all future disputes. Here testaments were promulgated,
slaves manumitted, bargains of sale concluded, and sometimes, for
greater security, the most considerable of these deeds were inserted
in the blank leaves of the parish Bible, which thus became a kind of
register, too sacred to be falsified.
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