Seintoi'ial Pozuers. 



"ii 



even a money liability for the homicide of so insignificant a 

 creature as a slave. If, however, a master so disfigured the 

 poor creature as to destroy eye or tooth, he lost this piece of 

 valuable personal property altogether, as the slave gained his 

 freedom. 



The mixed jurisdiction of the various courts is further 

 demonstrated, by the disposal of most fines in certain propor- 

 tions between the king and seignorial master of the district, 

 in which they were incurred. 



The king's share of the fines was collected by the sherefas, 

 who served as county treasurers under the lieutenants (a new 

 creation of King Alfred's, and a further attempt to centralise 

 authority). The Sherefa, who presided over the Tourm, also 

 provided for all the king's wants whilst travelling in his 

 particular county, and was, no doubt, the precursor of that 

 feudal official, the royal purveyor. 



It is probable, however, that legal disputes over the rights 

 of real property occupied the greater portion of the Court's 

 time. Though far behind the Romans in legislative genius, 

 Anglo-Saxon land legislation astonishes and sometimes shames 

 the Englishman of to-day. It is quite probable that here 

 again is an instance where Roman civilisation had taken root, 

 and the advanced legal formality of obtaining the consent of 

 the Witan to the written contract which converted Folcland 

 into private property,^ is another link which seems to connect 

 it with the Ager Publicus of the former polity. But it was 

 not only over the Bocland that the Anglo-Saxon evinced his 

 legal acumen. " The limits of land," writes Mr. 0. "Wren 

 Hoskyns, " were defined with scrupulous accuracy, and a 

 register of deeds and decisions, including mortgages, was kept 

 in the superior courts. The form of alienation or transfer 

 was very simple, but its efficacy was secured by publicity. 

 Before the Conquest, grants of land were enrolled in the shire 

 book, after proclamation made in public shiremote, for any 



* Called Bocland, of course, from the formality of entering the contract 

 in a book. Mr. Allen has sought to prove that in very early Saxon times 

 the conveyance of land was still carried on by symbols. Allen, Enquiry, 

 p. 153, 



