more so, when he needed the support of a free burgh or
city. And we may view the assembly (the Witenagemot) as partaking of the
character of a political congress, in which the liegemen of the crown,
or the communities protected by the 'Basileus,' (sovereign,) were asked
or persuaded to relieve the exigences of the state, or to consider those
measures which might be required for the common weal. The sovereign was
compelled to parley with his dependents.

It may be doubted whether any one member of the empire had power to
legislate for any other member. The Regulus of Cumbria was unaffected by
the vote of the Earl of East Angliae, if he chose to stand out against
it. These dignitaries constituted a congress, in which the sovereign
could treat more conveniently and effectually with his vassals than by
separate negotiations. * * But the determinations of the Witan bound
those only who were present, or who concurred in the proposition; and a
vassal denying his assent to the grant, might assert that the engagement
which he had contracted with his superior did not involve any pecuniary
subsidy, but only rendered him liable to perform service in the
field."--_1 Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth_,
637 to 642.]

[Footnote 65: "It was the freemen in Germany, and the possessors of land
in England, who were _suitors_ (jurors) in the hundred court. These
ranks of men were the same. The alteration which had happened in
relation to property had invested the German freemen with land or
territory."]

[Footnote 66: It would be wholly erroneous, I think, to infer from this
statement of Stuart, that either the "priests, princes, earls, or
_eorldormen_" exercised any authority over the jury in the trial of
causes, in the way of dictating the law to them. Henry's account of this
matter doubtless gives a much more accurate representation of the truth.
He says that _anciently_

"The meeting (the county court) was opened with a discourse by the
bishop, explaining, out of the Scriptures and ecclesiastical canons,
their several duties as good Christians and members of the church.
After this, the alderman, or one of his assessors, made a discourse
on the laws of the land, and the duties of good subjects and good
citizens. _When these preliminaries were over, they proceeded to try
and determine, first the causes of the church, next the pleas of the
crown, and last of all the controversies of private