tes only the superior part: it is not unusual to
find mention in records of communitas populi or omnes de regno, where
none are intended but the barons, or at most the tenants in chief. If we
look attentively at the earliest instance of summoning knights of shires
to parliament, that in 38 Henry III., which has been noticed above, it
will appear that they could only have been chosen by military tenants in
chief. The object of calling this parliament, if parliament it were, was
to obtain an aid from the military tenants, who, holding less than a
knight's fee, were not required to do personal service. None then,
surely, but the tenants in chief could be electors upon this occasion,
which merely respected their feudal duties. Again, to come much lower
down, we find a series of petitions in the reigns of Edward III. and
Richard II., which seem to lead us to a conclusion that only tenants in
chief were represented by the knights of shires. The writ for wages
directed the sheriff to levy them on the commons of the county, both
within franchises and without (tam intra libertates quam extra). But the
tenants of lords holding by barony endeavoured to exempt themselves from
this burthen, in which they seem to have been countenanced by the king.
This led to frequent remonstrances from the commons, who finally
procured a statute, that all lands which had been accustomed to
contribute towards the wages of members should continue to do so, even
though they should be purchased by a lord.[30] But, if these mesne
tenants had possessed equal rights of voting with tenants in chief, it
is impossible to conceive that they would have thought of claiming so
unreasonable an exemption. Yet, as it would appear harsh to make any
distinction between the rights of those who sustained an equal burthen,
we may perceive how the freeholders holding of mesne lords might on that
account obtain after the statute a participation in the privilege of
tenants in chief. And without supposing any partiality or connivance, it
is easy to comprehend that, while the nature of tenures and services was
so obscure as to give rise to continual disputes, of which the ancient
records of the King's Bench are full, no sheriff could be very accurate
in rejecting the votes of common freeholders repairing to the county
court, and undistinguishable, as must be allowed, from tenants in capite
upon other occasions, such as serving on juries, or voting on the
election of coroners.