126 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

C H AII.

p - in letters and the laws 77 : He chose the earls andsheriffs from among the men most celebrated forprobity and knowledge: He punished severelyall malversation in office 78 : And he removed allthe earls, whom he found unequal to the trust 79 ;v allowing only some of the more elderly to serveby a deputy, till their death should make roomfor more worthy successors.

The better to guide the magistrates in theadministration of justice, Alfred framed a bodyof laws ; which , though now lost , served longas the basis of English jurisprudence , and isgenerally deemed the origin of what is denomi-nated the COMMON LAW. He appointed regularmeetings of the states of England twice a year inLondon 80 ; a city which he himself had repairedand beautified, and which he thus rendered thecapital of the kingdom. The similarity of theseinstitutions to the customs of the ancient Germans,to the practice of the other northern conquerors,and to the Saxon laws during the Heptarchy,prevents us from regarding Alfred as the soleauthor of this plan of government; and leadsus rather to think , that , like a wife man, hecontented himself with reforming, extending, andexecuting the institutions, which he found pre-viously established. But on the whole, such success

77 Flor. Wigorn. p. 594. Brompton, p. 814.

78 Le IYliroir de Justice, chap. 2.

79 Aster d. 20.

*° Le Miroir de Justice.