ON THE INFLUENCE OF FEUDALISM. V 



jurisdiction, aiid the only legal mode of punishing ihem for crime 

 was upon conviction in their own court, by their own equals or peers 

 (pares). And such is still the case; a lord of parliament, as has 

 been most recently shewn (in the case of the Earl of Cardigan) must 

 be tried by the House of Peers, who decide his guilt or innocence 

 upon their honour,— thus preserving that chivalric feeling which in 

 the days of feudalism was declared, or assumed to be, the only test 

 of their actions. And here I may notice that the titles of nobility, 

 such as duke, marquis, eari, &c., &c., are all of feudal origin ; these 

 titles of honour, being fiefs in themselves, granted at first for life and 

 subsequently like the knights fees, in inheritance, have still an- 

 nejied to them some of the feudal incidents, viz. — homage and 

 fealty, forfeiture on attainder and descent by primogeoiluie, generally 

 amongst heirs male. 



However well calculated this system might originally have been for 

 the formation of a national militia, yet in the course of two centuries 

 after the conquest, the sovereign found it inadequate to meet the 

 exigencies of the state. The number of military tenants had much 

 decreased, the practice of compounding for personal service by 

 pecuniary payments or scutages (so called from the derivative of 

 scutum, a shield) which was too frequently withheld on the plea of 

 prescriptive exemption, the very limited period during which this 

 military aid could be compelled, and even when compelled, the dis- 

 organized and undisciplined state of the forces thus raised, shewed 

 the expediency of having inoi-e plentiful means of embodying and 

 ])aying a national army. This state and other necessities induced 

 the king to look elsewhere than to his nobles for assistance. The 

 crown demesnes were beginning to be limited by too frequent grants to 

 favourites, the towns in tlie royal jurisdiction were assuming increased 

 importance by the advantages of commerce, and after that the lesser 

 barons and landed gentry, by their representatives for the counties, 

 had been summoned to the Great Council, the burgesses were ulti- 

 mately considered of sufficient importance to be taxed by a parlia- 

 ment to which they by their representatives were invited. The king 

 was glad indeed to have the opportunity of enlisting the lower classes 

 on his side against the increasing power of the nobles, and these 

 classes in return felt. the advantage of their now position in parlly 

 freeing them from baronial oppression. Thus the evils of feudalism 



B 



