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
[f]. 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 farther authority than to keep order among the
freeholders, and interpose with their opinion [g]. 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 [h]; but this was not
practised on slight occasions. The alderman received a third of the
fines levied in those courts [i]; 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
freeholder was fined who absented himself thrice from these courts
[k].
[FN [f] LL. Edg. Sec. 5. Wilkins, p. 78. LL. Canut. Sec. 17.
Wilkins, p. 136. [g] Hickes, Dissert. Epist. p. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
[h] LL. Edg Sec. 2. Wilkins, p. 77. LL. Canut. Sec. 18. apud
Wilkins, p. 136. [i] LL. Edw. Conf. Sec. 31. [k] LL. Ethelst. Sec.
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. It was not
unusual to add t