124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

H AIX.

r. Their method of decision deserves to be noted,as being the origin of juries ; an institution,admirable in itself, and the best calculated for thepreservation of liberty and the administration ofjustice, that ever was devised by the wit of man.Twelve freeholders were chosen; who, havingsworn, together with the hundreder or presidingmagistrate of that division, to administer impartialjustice 7 ' , proceeded to the examination of thatcause, which was submitted to their jurisdiction.And beside these monthly meetings of the hundred,there was an annual meeting , appointed for amore general inspection of the police of the district;for the enquiry into crimes, the correction ofabuses in magistrates, and the obliging of everyperson to shew the decennary in which he wasregistered. The people , in imitation of theirancestors, the ancient Germans, assembled therein arms; whence a hundred was sometimes calleda wapentake, and its court served both for thesupport of military discipline, and for the admi-nistration of civil justice 7! .

The next superior court to that of the hundredwas the county-court, which met twice a year,after Michaelmas and Easter, and consisted of thefreeholders of the county who possessed an equalvote in the decision of causes. The bishop presided

77 Fœdus Alfred, andGothurn, apud Wilkins, cap. 3.p. 47. Leg. Ethelstani, cap. 2. apud Wilkins, p. 58. LL.Ethelr. § 4. Wilkins, p. 117.

7i Spellman in voce Wapentake.