coeval with
that of hundreds themselves, which were formerly observed to have been
introduced, though not invented, by Alfred, being derived from the
polity of the ancient Germans. The _centeni_, we may remember, were the
principal inhabitants of a district composed of different villages,
originally in number a _hundred_, but afterward only called by that
name, and who probably gave the same denomination to the district out of
which they were chosen. Caesar speaks positively of the judicial power
exercised in their hundred courts and courts-baron. '_Princeps regiorum
atque pagorum_' (which we may fairly construe the lords of hundreds and
manors) '_inter suos jus dicunt, controversias que minuunt_.' (The
chiefs of the country and the villages declare the law among them, and
abate controversies.) And Tacitus, who had examined their constitution
still more attentively, informs us not only of the authority of the
lords, but that of the _centeni_, the hundreders, or jury, _who were
taken out of the common freeholders, and had themselves a share in the
determination. 'Eliguntur in conciliis et principes, qui jura per pagos
vicosque reddunt, centeni singulis, ex plebe comites concilium simul et
auctoritas adsunt_.' (The princes are chosen in the assemblies, who
administer the laws throughout the towns and villages, and with each one
are associated an hundred companions, taken from the people, for
purposes both of counsel and authority.) This hundred court was
denominated _haereda_ in the Gothic constitution. But this court, as
causes are equally liable to removal from hence as from the common
court-baron, and by the same writs, and may also be reviewed by writ of
false judgment, is therefore fallen into equal disuse with regard to the
trial of actions."--_3 Blackstone_, 34, 35.

"The _county court_ is a court incident to the jurisdiction of the
_sheriff_. It is not a court of record, but may hold pleas of debt, or
damages, under the value of forty shillings; over some of which causes
these inferior courts have, by the express words of the statute of
Gloucester, (6 Edward I., ch. 8,) a jurisdiction totally exclusive of
the king's superior courts. * * The county court may also hold plea of
many real actions, and of all personal actions to any amount, by virtue
of a special writ, called a _justicies_, which is a writ empowering the
sheriff, for the sake of despatch, to do the same justice in his county
court as might otherwise be