1 68 On the ORIGIN and STRUCTURE of 



when the towns, in the fucceeding centuries, purchafed char- 

 ters, erecUng them into little communities, it was necefTary to 

 feparate them from the ancient fyftem of fubordination to which 

 they belonged. Thus, thofe .charters contained, among other 

 privileges, exemptions from owing fuit to the county, and 

 even hundred^ courts * ; exemptions from the ancient authority 

 of the meriff, as collector of the revenues of the {hire ; and pro- 

 vifions, that burgefles mould not be tried by a jury of the coun- 

 ty, unlefs one half of the jurymen were taken from their corpo- 

 ration. It is fcarce neceflary to add, that feveral of the towns 

 which obtained charters were, at the conqueft, nothing more 

 than manors belonging to the king, or other great proprietors. 

 ATKYNS, in his Lex Parlamentaria, has long ago mentioned fe- 

 veral ancient vills of the domain that afterwards became royal 

 boroughs. 



idly^ DOOMSDAY exhibits the government of towns as the 

 fame with that of the country. Thus, it mentions the comes, 

 vicecomes, and their fubftitutes, -viz. prsepofiti, majores, &c. as 

 the perfons who had authority in towns f : And thofe that 

 ranked as hundreds are defcribed not only as fubdivided into 



wards 



" expeditione et innavibus." Of Exon, (Exeter) it is faid,"Serviebat haeccivitas quantum 

 " 5 hidae terrae." P. 100. " Huntedun. Burg, defendeb. fe ad geld, regis, pro quar- 

 " ta parte Herftingeftan hundred." Of Clifford, it is remarked, " Iftud caftellum eft 

 " de regno Angliae. Non fubjacet alicui hundret. neque in confuetudine. GISLIBET 

 " vicecomes tenet illud ad firmam et burgum et carucat." (village and plowgate), 



* IN the charter of Portfmouth, RICHARD I. grants; " Quod prasdifta villa, et 



" omnes burgenfes in ea, et tenentes de ea, fint quieti de fciris et hundredis, et 



" de feclis fcirarum et hundredorum, et de fummis et auxiliis vicecomitum, et fervien- 

 " tibus et de'placitis et querelis omnibus." BRADY on Bar. dpp- p. 14. In the 

 charter of Dunwich, King JOHN grants ; " Quod nullam fcftam faciant comitatum vel 

 " hundredorum, nifi coram jufticiariis noftris : et cum fummoniti fuerunt efle coram 

 " jufticiariis, mittant pro fe, duodecim legales homines de burgo, qui fint pro omni- 

 " bus :" And, if they were to be amerced, " Amercientur per 6 probos homines 

 " burgi,et 6 extra burgum." See others in MADOX Hift. Excheq. 



* OF Huntedun, it is faid ; " De toto hoc burgo exib. temp. Reg. EDW. de Landga- 

 " ble 10 lib. ; inde comes terciam 'partem habeb. rex duas, &c. j prater hsec habeb. 



" rex 



