capite, and several were freeholders of
other persons in military service. Their rights were recognized and
guarded by the 55th William I.; [Footnote: "LV.--De Chartilari seu
Feudorum jure et Ingenuorum immunitate. Volumus etiam ac firmiter
praecipimus et concedimus ut omnes LIBERI HOMINES totius Monarchiae
regni nostri praedicti habeant et teneant terras suas et possessiones
suas bene et in pace, liberi ab omni, exactione iniusta et ab omni
Tallagio: Ita quod nihil ab eis exigatur vel capiatur nisi servicium
suum liberum quod de iure nobis facere debent et facere tenentur
et prout statutum est eis et illis a nobis datum et concessum iure
haereditario imperpetuum per commune consilium totius regni nostri
praeicti."] it is entitled:

"CONCERNING CHEUTILAR OR FEUDAL RIGHTS, AND THE IMMUNITY OF FREEMEN.

"We will also, and strictly, enjoin and concede that all FREEMEN (LIBERI
HOMINES) of our whole kingdom aforesaid, have and hold their land and
possessions well and in peace, free from every unjust exaction and from
Tallage, so that nothing be exacted or taken from them except their free
service, which of right they ought to do to us and are bound to do, and
according as it was appointed (statutum) to them, and given to them by
us, and conceded by hereditary right for ever, by the common council
(FOLC-GEMOT} of our whole realm aforesaid."

These FREEMEN were not created by the Norman Conquest, they existed
prior thereto; and the laws, of which this is one, are declared to be
the laws of Edward the Confessor, which William re-enacted. Selden, in
"The Laws and Government of England," p. 34, speaks of this law as the
first Magna Charta. He says:

"Lastly, the one law of the kings, which may be called the first MAGNA
CHARTA in the Norman times (55 William I.), by which the king reserved
to himself, from the FREEMEN of this kingdom, nothing but their free
service, in the conclusion saith that their lands were thus granted to
them in inheritance of the king by the COMMON COUNCIL (FOLC-GEMOT) of
the whole kingdom; and so asserts, in one sentence, the liberty of the
FREEMEN, and of the representative body of the kingdom."

He further adds:

"The freedom of an ENGLISHMAN consisteth of three particulars: first, in
OWNERSHIP; second, in VOTING ANY LAW, whereby ownership is maintained;
and, thirdly, in having an influence upon the JUDICIARY POWER that must
apply the law. Now the English, under the Normans, enjoyed all this
free