T2 History of the English Landed Interest. 



other the chairman of these Courts ; the one representative of 

 the king's interest, the other that of the freemen ; the former 

 called gerefa before, and bailiff after the Conquest ; the latter 

 called earldorman before, and hundredman after the Conquest. 



The president of the Seignorial Court seems to have been 

 generally represented by a deputy. This man was probably 

 the steward of the franchise, and not to be confounded with 

 the Reve, who was the tenant's nominee. The latter was 

 ex officio a representative of the township in the Hundred 

 Court, and with four others of the former's inhabitants 

 went to the latter's monthly meetings. Twice yearly the same 

 quintet attended the County Court; and on the substitution for 

 this Court of that of the itinerant justices, in the reign of Ed- 

 ward I., they continued to take their part in the business that 

 had required their attendance in the former assembly. It is 

 quite possible that the office of Steward and Reve may have 

 been vested in one and the same person. "Whether this be so 

 or not, it is interesting to note that even in his own Court the 

 landlord had by no means matters all his own way. The ten- 

 dency to lessen the intimate connection between seignorial and 

 magisterial powers is further evidenced by the institution of 

 itinerant Justices in Eyre during Angevin times. On the other 

 hand, the difficulty to entirely dissociate the two is evidenced 

 by the retention to this day of landownership as a necessary 

 qualification for a seat on the County Bench. 



Leaving, however, this interesting subject for further con- 

 sideration when our history has developed itself, we come now 

 to inquire what business occupied the attention of the local 

 courts. 



It seems that most offences were punishable with fines. 

 Even the lives of the various state dignitaries were valued at 

 certain fixed sums, which however varied in the different 

 kingdoms of the Heptarchy ; so that he who indulged in the 

 expensive luxury of regicide could reckon up beforehand the 

 exact extent of his liability. Prices ran between 30,000 ^ 

 thrimsas for a king's, to 2G6 for a mere ceori's, life. There was 



^ Stubbs, Sdtct Charters, p. 65. 



