town called Hegentune, the inhabitants of three hundreds being there assembled, where the claim on each part was heard, and judgment given therein.

Moreover we find, that the same Ægelwyn, & primates Northamptonienses, placitum habuerunt apud Walmesford, in octo hundredis. And that contracts for land were also made in such conventions, in those elder times, we want not several instances:-to notice only a few.

In 5 Stretham quædam vidua, Wifled vocabulo dicta, &c. There was a certain woman, called Wlfled, dwelling in Stretham, the widow of Siberth, who sold twenty-four acres of land to the abbot of Ely; which land her father purchased in king Athelstan's time, and she had afterwards quietly enjoyed; & hoc noverat totum hundredum; and of this all the hundred had knowledge.

So also in Chipenham, one Wine purchased eighty acres, and five pieces of ground whercon houses were built, for which he gave one hundred shillings unto Lefsius de Frakenham; and likewise twenty acres, and one parcel of land with building on it, for twenty shillings; and from Wulfelm, brother to Wulfin, ten acres for ten shillings: Hoc quoq. factum est coram hundredi testimonia; this also was done in the face of the hundred.

And upon a controversy respecting certain lands in Swafham, claimed by one Wulstane, the witness of no less than eight hundreds on the southern sidė

• Ex Hist. Elien. MS. in bibl. Cotton. [Domitian. A. 15.], f. 76. a

of Cambridgeshire, was produced to prove his pur

chase.

Nor is testimony wanting that such was the practice after the Norman conquest, as is evident by the conclusion of an original deed, apparently as ancient as the time of king Henry II. ', in which Richard de Merburie, of Merburie in Cheshire, grants the whole lordship of Merburie to William de Merburie, his brother and his heirs, for certain services to him the said Richard and his heirs reserved.

And that titles of land were tried also in this court, as well after the Norman entrance as in the Saxons' time, is equally evident from a precept of the abovementioned king to the shireeve of Norfolk.

THE SHERIFF'S TURN.]---This was anciently called scyre mote (the meeting of the inhabitants of the shire), and was held twice in the year, long before the Norman conquest, as appears from several

• Penès Tho. Merburie de Merburie in com. Cestr. arm. 14 Sept. 1663.

> "Hoc autem feci consensu," &c.—" Willielmus frater meus prædictus dedit mihi; partem coram omni comitatu Cestriæ, et partem in curiâ domini mei Guarini de Vernon, et partem coram wapentachio de Hathelstonâ, testibus Lidulfo de Twamlowe, &c. et omni comitatu Cestriæ."

* Ex ipso autogr. in bibl. Cotton. H. rex Angliæ, et dux Norm. et Aquit. et comes Andegaviæ, vicecomiti suo de Norfolc, salutem. Præcipio, quod ecclesia S. Trinitatis de Norwico teneat benè et in pace, et justè, et liberè communiam pasturam suam, quæ est inter Bescheleiam et Framingeham, sicut meliùs et quietiùs tenuit tempore regis Henrici avi mei, et sicut dirationatum est per homines hundredi: et nisi feceritis justicia mea faciat fieri. Teste Tomâ Cancel lario apud S. Edmundum.

5

testimonies: it afterwards received the name of the sheriff's turn, from the French word tour (vicis), and in English turn. In this court sat the bishop of the diocess and the earl or ealderman, in shires that had ealdermen ; and the bishop and sheriffs in such counties as were committed to sheriffs, as appears from the laws of both Edgar and Canute: "In every county let there be twice a year an assembly of the people, whereat the bishop of the diocess and the earl shall be present, the one to direct in divine, the other in human matters."

These judges were empowered to determine, as well ecclesiastical as civil causes; and this institution so continued, the bishop and earl sitting therein together, till William the Conqueror, in a full convention of his archbishops, bishops, abbots, and tempo+ ral lords, commanded, that ecclesiastical matters should thenceforth be handled by the bishops in courts of their own, and not any more be discussed amongst secular affairs.

In this court grants and contracts were anciently made upon special occasions, as appears by an original deed', bearing date 4 Edw. I.; wherein Alice, the daughter of William de Wrottesle, of Wrottesle in Staffordshire, in her pure widowhood, bestows all that land which her father gave in frank marriage with her unto one Henry Fitzhugh, and which thus concludes:-Data apud Wlvrenehamptone, &c. coram

Cart. 2 R. 2. per Inspex. m. 12.

Penès Walt. Wrottesley baronettum an. 1662.

domino Bogone de Cnovyle, tunc temporis vicecomite Staff. & Salop. & magnum TURNUM suum, &c.

But it seems, notwithstanding the old laws before cited, that the sheriffs kept their turns oftener than twice a year before the statute of Magna Charta; for by that statute it was decreed, that no sheriff or his bailiff should keep his turn in the hundred but twice in a year, and no where but in due place and accustomed, viz. once after Easter, and again after Michaelmas 2.

It likewise appears, that after the passing of the same statute, the sheriffs did compel religious persons as well as others to come to this court until the statute of Marlebridge in 52 H. III. which exempts all archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, and all other religious men and women, from coming thither, except their appearance be specially required thereat for some other cause.

THE COUNTY COURT.]-The county court is a court incident to the jurisdiction of the sheriff, and is also very ancient, as appears from the following passage in the laws of Edward the Elder: "Every sheriff shall convene the people once a month, and do equal right to all, putting an end to controversies at times appointed." An instance of the cognizance of this court may be found in a precept of William the Conqueror, directed to Will. de Cahannis, and commanding him to convene the inhabitants of Northampton

• Videsis etiam Claus. 18 H. 3. in dorso, m. 1o. quod turnus vicecomitis per hundreda nisi bis in anno teneatur. T. Reg. apud Westm. 11 Oct.

shire to inquire whether the tenants to the monks of Ramsey for lands in Isham had paid the rent, or not.

To this court anciently were appeals made from the hundred court, as we learn by the laws of Canute: "No man by a distress shall compel another to the county court, unless he have thrice complained in the hundred court; but if he have not right the third time, he may then sue in the county court, which is called the scyregemot."

In those times the county court was a court of great dignity and splendour, the bishop and the ealderman (or earl), with the principal men of the shire, sitting therein to administer justice both in lay and ecclesiastical causes: and therefore Sivardus 5, in the time of king Edgar, having made his testament, and caused it to be written in three chirographs, sent it to Ægelwyn, the alderman before mentioned, who was principal judge in the county court, to be there approved and recorded; all causes, whether for perjury, adultery, tithes, &c. being only there to be discussed.

"It belongeth to the shireeve (says Glanvile) to hold plea in this court upon a wRIT OF RIGHT Concerning freehold, in cases where the lord of the manor (wherein land lieth) hath not done justice; as also to hold plea concerning bondmen, but by the king's writ." To which Bracton adds, " Also in the county court, and in presence of the shireeve, many things

• Ex Regist. de Ramsey, in Scacc. penès Remem. Regis.

• Ex Præf. Regist. de Ely, f. 4. b. Vide Selden's Tit. of Honour, P. 629.