Willis: Anglo-American Law 
69 
the assembly of the smaller states became the folkmoot of the 
shire, the county court of later times. With the union of the 
seven kingdoms into a single nation, there was a further ex- 
tension of the same process. The shire contained a number 
of hundreds. The chief man of the shire was the ealdorman, 
who was a military leader, sat as a member of the shire court, 
as a national officer received one-third of the profits of the 
court, and was chosen by the king and witan until the office 
became hereditary. The sheriff, a representative of the king 
appointed by him, was the presiding officer of the shire court. 
The shiremoot was held twice a year. Besides the ealdorman 
and sheriff, its members were the bishop, the lords of private 
estates, the reeve and four men from each township, and all 
public officers. The witanagemot was not composed of elected 
representatives but of the ealdormen of the shires, the bishops 
of the dioceses, and the king’s thegns, or ministers. The 
witanagemot was never large, but increased in size with 
the development of royal power. A complainant could not ap- 
ply for relief to the shire court until he had thrice been denied 
relief by his hundred court. The king could not be appealed 
to until after both the hundred and the shire courts had failed 
to do justice. Besides the courts above mentioned there were 
the sheriff’s tourn, which met once a month, tun-moots, and 
courts of a private nature held by thegns upon their own 
land (from which latter courts there was probably an appeal 
to the shire court, or to the king) . 
Legal Procedure. The Anglo-Saxon modes of trial were 
compurgation and the ordeal. 
Compurgation. If anyone was sued in a civil action or ac- 
cused of a crime, he could bring eleven men of the hundred to 
swear on his behalf that they believed his account of the case. 
In the case of legal transactions, the witnesses or some of them 
probably formed the compurgators. In the cases of torts and 
crimes the witnesses would be the compurgators if there were 
any such. Otherwise the compurgators were much like wit- 
nesses to character. If the defendant was not outsworn by 
the compurgators of the plaintiff or complainant, he of course 
won his case. 
Ordeal. Ordeal consisted in an appeal to the supernatural. 
The person accused first swore to his innocence, and then he 
had to undergo one of three tests: the ordeal by water, the 
