Sketch of the History of the High Constables of Edinburgh, with notes on the early watching, ... and other Police arrangements of the city. (Appendix.)

Front matter

THE HIGH CONSTABLES OF THE CITY OF EDINBURGH, Edinburgh: Printed bv John Greig and Son. MODERATOR'S GOLD MEDAL. SKETCH Of THE HISTORY OF THE High Constables of Edinburgh WITH NOTES ON THE EARLY WATCHING, CLEANING, AND OTHER POLICE ARRANGEMENTS OF THE CITY. *, » JAMES D. MARWICK,, F.R.S.E., F.S.A. Scot. City Clerk of Edinburgh. EDINBURGH : PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. 1865. INSIGNIA OF MODERATOR. PRESENTED TO the Pigjr €an8tMz% ai dBbhtlmrjjjj, BY CHARLES LAWSON JUN., EX-MODERATOR. EX-MODERATOR'S INSIGNIA. TO CHARLES LAWSON, Esq., Yr. of BORTHWICKHALL. EX-MODERATOR OF THE HIGH CONSTABLES OF EDINBURGH. My Dear Sir, f now offer you my " Sketch of the History of the High Constables of Edinburgh." When, a few weeks after your election to the Moderatorship ofthe Society in the winter of 1862, I undertook to prepare this sketch, I had little idea of the nature or extent of the work which it involved.

But an investigation of the records of the Town Council shewed, not only that the " Constables" were of considerably greater antiquity than was supposed, but were so largely associated with the watching, cleaning, and other police arrange ments of the City, that no sketch of their history would be worth offering which did not deal, somewhat in detail, with these arrangements. The materials for preparing such a sketch, however, had to be sought almost exclusively, so far as f am aware, in the voluminous records and oilier MSS. in the archives of the City ; and to that task f have devoted those portions of my time that were not demanded by my official duties. Taken up thus at intervals, and worked at frequently under considerable physical disadvantages, my sketch has assumed very much the form of notes, without any literary pretensions, and printed off sheet by sheet as prepared, ft is, however, the best that f can offer in the circumstances ; and 7cifh all its defects, of which no one can be more sensible than myself, Dedication. it will, I trust, possess some interest as an attempt to make partially available what, lo a large extent, are still unused materials for the history of Edinburgh.

Believing that an interest attaches to the precise words of the original documents, ivhich no paraphrase of mine could possess, I have made these documents tell as far as possible their own story. To a general reader this would probably be a great objection. But I venture to hope that you and the other members of the Society will prefer the ipsissima verba of your own and the City's records to any other phraseology. You will observe that the foot-notes, which form so large a portion of the book, contain, in almost every instance, a reference to the authorities for the statements in the text. Any person who may hereafter work in the same field will thus have his labours lightened, while the Society will possess an index to the records illustrative of its history, and be enabled io refer lo them without much dificulfy.

Chapter I. Page Introductory

Derivation of the term " Constable."— Lord High Constable.— Constables of Castles. — Constables of Hundreds and Tithings, &c. — High and Petty Constables. — High Constables of the City of Edinburgh 3

Chapter II. Introductory

Disorderly condition of Edinburgh during the sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth centuries. — Acts of Parliament, Privy Council, and Town Council, for remeid. — Institution of Constables in the City ; their duties in connection with the suppression of beggars, vagabonds, night-walkers, &c. ; the wearing of fire-arms ; the watching and peace of the city ; the enforce ment of the laws against Popery ; the cleanliness of the City ; the provision by the citizens of befitting armour ; the suppression of profane swearing, &c. 1 5

Chapter III

1611-1700. Election of Constables in Edinburgh. — Institution of Justices of the Peace and Constables throughout the country. — Orders and Injunctions for City Constables, and General Articles and Injunctions for Constables. — Watching Arrangements of the City.— Cleaning Arrangements of the City. — Duties of the Constables in relation to these, and as to strangers, lodgers, and loose and dissolute persons within burgh, and as to Sunday observance, &c. Contents.

Chapter IV. Page

I70I-I800. Orders for the internal regulation and discipline ofthe Society. — Elections of Constables. — Legislation against Sunday profanation and immorality. — Duties of the Constables in enforcing that legislation, in attending at fires, in assisting revenue officers, in taking up lists of persons liable to serve as jurymen and in the militia, in attending magistrates on public occasions, in preserving the peace, in assisting recruiting officers, in preparing Parlia mentary returns, &c. — Donations by the Society to charitable objects. — "Instructions" to Constables in 1728, 1750, and 1786. — Dangers attending execution of office. — Services of the Society connected with the rebellion in 1745- — Duties of Constables in relation to the watching and cleaning ar rangements of the city. — Festive meetings, &c 149

Chapter V

1801-1865. Elections of Constables. — Regulations by the Town Council as to the consti tution and management of the Society. — Question as to the relation of the Society to the ordinary Police. — Society authorised to assume the distinctive title of " High Constables." — Alterations in its numbers.' — Disputes with the Town Council. — Rules enacted by the Society for its internal administration, and questions in connection therewith. — Miscellaneous duties ; keeping the peace ; collisions with the military authorities in the discharge of that duty ; attending magistrates at public ceremonials ; preparation of parliamentary returns, jury lists, and lists of persons liable to serve as mititia men Philan thropic services. — "High Constables' Volunteer Company." — Questions of Precedency with other Local Bodies. — Loyal Addresses. — Festive Meetings. — Annual Excursions, &c. — Insignia. — General Observations, &c. . .214 Contents.

Appendix

. PAGE I. List of Office-Bearers of the Society, from the Union in 1707 till April 1864. ........ 11 II. Account of "The Unlaws of Bluid and Injureis in the Toun," from Michaelmas 1608 till Michaelmas 1609. .... xiv III. Ordour and Maner of the Visitouris in ilk quarter, electet and chosin thairto, — contening thair office, thair naimes, and bounds assignet to thame [3d July 1588]. ...... xv IV. Orders and Injunctions for the Constables of the City [4th September 1611] xvi V. Act of Parliament as to Constables, 1617, c. 8, with foot-notes shewing alterations effected by the Act 1661, c. 38. . , xviii VI. Notes on Sunday Observance in Scotland previous to 1698. . VII. Orders to be observed by the Constables of Edinburgh. VIII. List of Officers of the Society of High Constables, from 1711 till 1865.

XXI xxxiv xl IX. Donations by the Society out of their Box to Charitable Institutions in the City, &c, from 3d December 1 71 7. . . . . xii X. Instructions by the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council of Edinburgh, to be observed by the Constables in the discharge of their offices within this City and liberties thereof. Approved of by the Magistrates and Council on 23d May 1750. xiii XI. Instructions for the Constables of the City of Edinburgh, in the discharge of their public duties ; approved of by the Magistrates and Council on 29th March 1786. ..... xliv XII. Rules proposed by the Society of Constables for their internal government, and approved of by the Magistrates and Council on 29th March 1786. . ..... xlvi XIII. Rules for the internal government of the High Constables, adopted by the Society on 23d June 181 2, to supersede the Rules then in force. xlix XIV.

Rules for the internal government of the High Constables, adopted by the Society on 8th August 1814, in lieu of those of 23d June 1802. XV. Rules and Regulations of the Society of High Constables of the City of Edinburgh, approved of by the Society on 12th August 1825. . Iii Contents. PAGE XVL Instructions and Regulations by the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council, for the Society of High Constables of the City of Edin- . burgh; confirmed by act of Council, 19th March 1828. . . lvi XVII. Rules of the Society of High Constables of the City of Edinburgh, approved of by the Society on 14th May 1830- . . . lix XVIII. Rules of the Society of High Constables of the City of Edinburgh, as printed in 1835. ....... lxii XIX. Rules of the Society of High Constables of the City of Edinburgh. . Ixv XX.

Act of Council regulating the Constitution of the Society of High Constables of the City of Edinburgh, 24th February 1857. . lxx XXI. Bye-Laws of the Society of High Constables of the City of Edinburgh, approved of by the Society on 1 lth May 1857, and amended by sub sequent resolutions on 13th October 1858, 5th January 1860, 8th February 1861, and 2d July 1861. ..... Ixxi XXII. List and Description of the Insignia. . . . . . lxxv XXIII. Office-Bearers and Roll of Members, ist November 1865. . . lxxxi NOTES on the Powers, Privileges, &c, of the Lord High Constable of Scotland, with especial reference to the questions between him and the magistrates of Edinburgh in regard to their criminal jurisdiction within the city. •••..... fli

APPENDIX.

to Notes on the Lord High Constable :— (I.) Expense of Deputation to London in 1631. . . . 1-4.-1 (2.) Expense of Deputation to London in 1634. . . _. . r.r-i (3. ) Expenses incurred by the Town in connection with disputes between the Magistrates and the Lord High Constable during 1632-34. . [46] (4. ) Letter from King Charles I. to the Magistrates and Council. . [50] (5.) Commission to the Magistrates of Edinburgh lo act as Deputes of the Lord High Constable during the visit of George IV. to Scotland in 1822. ..... . rr ji Corrigenda. ........ [j2] INDEX. HIGH CONSTABLES OF THE CITY OF EDINBURGH. A High Constables ofthe City of Edinburgh.

Introduction

. Derivation ofthe term " Constable."— Lord High Constable.— Constables of Castles. —Constables of Hundreds and Tithings, &c— High and Petty Constables.— High Constables of the City of Edinburgh. . - : word " Constable " is, by some authorities, derived from the Saxon words " Koning " and " Stapel," signifying a support of the King ; and by others from the Latin words " Comes " and " Stabuli," denoting a master of the horse. The latter derivation is that adopted by Spelman, Du Cange, and others, and has reference probably to the duties of that officer, well known in the Empire, who had to regulate all matters of chivalry, tilts, tournaments, and feats of arms, which were performed on horseback. Such also was the duty of the Constable of France, — one of the great officers of State, — who, in virtue of his office, had the chief command of the army, and took cognizance of military offences.

The office was suppressed by an edict of Louis XIII., but was revived by Napoleon I., who constituted it one of the six grand dignities under the French Empire. On the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty in 1814, however, it was finally abolished. In England, the office of Lord High Constable was instituted immediately after the Norman Conquest, both the name and the office being, according to Blackstone, borrowed from the French. The Constable of England was also an officer of the highest dignity, with duties, powers, and juris diction very similar to those of France. He and the Earl Marischal were jointly judges of the Court of Chivalry, — a court which has fallen into entire disuse, but which had jurisdiction over pleas of life and limb arising in matters of arms and deeds of war, as well out of the realm as within it.

In right of his office, he was always summoned to Parliament as " Constabularius Angliae." Like many of the great offices of State of ancient origin, the High Constableship was hereditary, and passed by inheritance in the line of the families of De Gloucester and Bohun, Earls of Hereford, and afterwards in the line of their heirs-general the Staffords, Dukes of Buckingham. On the attainder and execution of the third Duke of Buckingham for high treason, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Henry VIII., all his honours were forfeited to the Crown, and the office of Lord High Constable of England ceased to be hereditary. Since that event, it has only been conferred on special occasions, such as coronations, the trials of peers, &c, and then pro hac vice. At the last three coronations, viz., those of George IV., William IV., and Her present Majesty, the late Duke of Wellington acted as Lord High Constable of England.

In Scotland also, the office of Lord High Constable is one of great antiquity. Edward was Constable in the reign of Alexander I., and between that time and 1308 the office passed through the families of De Morville, the Lords of Galloway, De Quincey Earl of Winchester, and Cumyn Earl of Buchan. On the attainder of John Earl of Cumyn, in 1308, the office was conferred on David Earl of Athole ; and on the forfeiture of his honours and estates in 1314, it was granted by King Robert the Bruce to Gilbert de Hay, knight, the ancestor of the noble family of Erroll, by whom it is still retained. The honours and privileges of the Constable of Scotland were not less dis tinguished than those of the Constables of France and England, and were very similar in character. He had the command of the army, was proper and sole judge in military affairs, and besides, possessed a criminal juris diction which extended to all matters of riot, disorder, blood, and slaughter committed within four miles of the King's person, or of the Par liament or Council representing the royal authority in the absence of the Sovereign.

The office was reserved by the Treaty of Union, and by the act for the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in Scotland, 20 George II. c. 43 (I746).1 The name of " constable " was given also to the keepers or governors of the castles of the King or great Barons. Such were the constables of the Tower of London, of Dover, Windsor, Chester, and other fortresses, to the number in the time of Henry II. of 1115. Every manor, it was held, should include one such fortress, bearing the name of the manor, and ruled by a constable. These offices of constable, or " castellan," as they were frequently termed, were often hereditary. Every constable exercised a criminal jurisdiction within the district attached to his castle, in the same way as the sheriffs did within their respective bailiwicks ; but the mode in which they and other royal officers exercised their jurisdiction in the trial of pleas of the Crown, excited so much complaint that an express clause was inserted in Magna Charta, 1 21 5 (§ 24), prohibiting every " Sheriff, Constable, Coroner, or other our bailiffs," from " holding pleas of the Crown."

Reference is again made in the Statute of Westminster {3 Ed. I.), c. 15, to the same description of con stables as " constables of fees," alluding to their perquisites as keepers of the prisons, which formed an important part of all ancient castles. In this character their oppressions called forth the statute, 5 Henry IV. c. 10 (1403), which, after reciting " that divers constables of castles," under " colour of their commissions " as justices of the peace, " take people to whom they bear evil will, and imprison them within the said castle till they have made fine and ransom with the said constable for their deliverance," enacted that " none be imprisoned by any justice of the peace, but only in the common gaol," saving the " franchise " of the lords and others who have gaols. This statute, remarks Tomlins, " seems to have put an end to a race of tyrants, who, by their misconduct, had rendered themselves odious to the people."3 In Scotland we find the same office of constable of castles.

Throughout the kingdom, and especially in the more important towns, there existed royal castles, established at once for the defence of the country and 1 For a more detailed statement of the honours and privileges of the office, with especial reference to the questions between the Lord High Constable and the Magis trates of Edinburgh, in regard to their criminal jurisdiction within the City, see Notes on Lord High Constable. 8 Thomson's Magna Charta, p. 204, quoted by Creasy on the English Constitution, p. 141. Tomlin's Law Dictionary, voce " Constable." the preservation of order. Each of these castles was governed by an officer called a "constable,"1 who enjoyed certain lands attached to the office, known as " constable lands," and exercised jurisdiction, frequently civil as well as criminal, over a circumscribed territory around his fortress.

From these offices, Chalmers conjectures, may be deduced those jurisdictions in Scotland called " constabularies," several of which— the constabularies of Haddington and Linlithgow for example — continued to exist till comparatively recent times.3 Many of these offices of constable became hereditary in particular families. Thus the constableship or keepership of the castles of Dunstaffnage, Carrick, Skipness, and others, was vested in the family of Argyle.3 The constable ship of Forfar belonged to the Earl of Strathmore ;4 that of Elgin to the Earls of Moray ; the Earls of Huntly were the hereditary constables of Inverness.

The constableship of Nairn was held by the family of Calder ; that of Dundee was held successively by the Scrymgeours of Dudhope, by Lord Halton, and by Graham of Claverhouse ;3 the Kennedys of Carmucks were constables of Aberdeen ; the Erskines of Dun were constables of Mon trose;6 the Earls of Annandale were constables of Lochmaben ;7 and, sub sequent to 1580, the constableship of Dumbarton Castle was possessed successively by the Dukes of Lennox and Montrose.8 Others of these offices were granted for life, like that of Haddington to William Lindsay of the Byres ; but some, and among these probably the most important, as requiring in an especial manner a delectus persona, like the constableships of the castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and during the earlier portion of its history, Dumbarton, were conferred during the royal pleasure, for a period of years, or for life.9 Some of these constables of castles, like the Lord High Constable, had the power to appoint, and exercised their office by, deputies.10 1 Mackenzie's Criminal Laws of Scotland, i. 186. 2 Caledonia,i. 709. * Stair's Institutes, by Brodie, i. 278 ; B. ii. § 65. * Ibid. 6 Caledonia, i. 709.

The Thanes of Cawdor — Spalding Club, p. 5. 6 Fountainhall's Historical Notices of Scotch Affairs, i. 118. 7 Caledonia, iii. 68. 8 Ibid. iii. 867. 9 Irvine's History of Dumbartonshire, 71, 98. Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1585, c. 37 ; iii. p. 403. 1640, c. 19 and 54 ; v. p. 303, 321. Caledonia, iii. 867. 10 Spalding Club, Extracts from Burgh Records of Aberdeen, ii. 414. Caledonia, iii. 866. In several cases, the sheriffship of the county within which the royal castles were situated, was conjoined with the office of constable. Thus the sheriff ship, as well as the constableship, of Elgin, was held in the reign of David II. by the Earl of March, who conveyed both offices to William de Walli bus j1 the sheriffship of the shire, and the constableship of the castle, of Dumbarton, were held successively by the Earl of Menteith and by others ;3 the sheriffship of the county, and the constableship of the castle, of Edin burgh, were held by the same individuals during the English occupation, and also, it is said, at the Restoration ;3 and in like manner there were associated with the constableships of the castles of Roxburgh, the sheriffdom of Teviotdale,4 of the Castle of Dumfries the sheriffdom of Nithsdale or Dumfries,6 of the Castle of Threve the stewardship of Kirkcudbright,6 and of the Castle of Lochmaben the sheriffship of Wigton.7 It would also appear to have been the practice of the constables of royal castles to hold municipal offices in the burghs adjoining.

The practice was prohibited by the act of the Parliament of James III., 1469, c. 5, which enacts " that na capitane nor constable of the King's castellis, quhat toune thai evir be in, sail beir office within the said toune as to be alderman, bailzie, dene of guild, thesaurare, na nai other officiare that may be chosing be the toune, fra the tyme of the next chosing furth to-cum."8 It did not, however, prevent Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange,9 George Douglas of Parkhead,10 and the Earl of Arran,11 from acting both as provosts of the city and con stables or captains ofthe castle of Edinburgh in 1569, 1576, and 1584. Most of these constables of castles in Scotland had by grant, or claimed on the ground of prescription, a right to proclaim in the burghs adjoining the castles of which they were the keepers such fairs as had been established there, to levy the customs belonging to these fairs, to exercise criminal jurisdiction within these burghs while the fairs lasted, and to apply the fines and escheats of delinquents to their own use.

These powers, granted originally, according to Lord Fountainhall,12 for the preservation of the King's 1 Caledonia, i. 709. 2 living's History of Dumbartonshire, 54. Caledonia, iii. 866. 8 Caledonia, ii. 575, 577, 5§7- * Ibid., ii. no. « Ibid., iii. 65. « Ibid., iii. 244. 7 Ibid., iii. 360. s Acts ofthe Parliaments of Scotland, ii. 95. 9 Council Register, iv. 246. 10 Ibidv. 66. Records ofthe Convention ofthe Royal Burghs of Scotland, i. 91. 11 Council Register, vi. 116. " Fountainhall's Notices of Scotch Affairs, i. 118. peace in burghs, at times when " there was a great resort and confluence of strangers, and much bargaining and drinking, and so a probable fear of quarrels," which the ordinary magistrates might not be able to put down without the " auxiliary assistance" of the constable and his forces, appear to have been often exercised most oppressively, and to have formed the subject of frequent complaint.

It was to remedy this state of matters, and on the complaint of " the universal burghs," that an Act was passed in the Parliament of James II., 1457, c. 9,1 prohibiting the taking of distresses of goods of little quantity " for auld use and custum," and regulating the exactions and distresses in regard to cattle and goods brought to market in large quantities. This prohibition was renewed and extended by an Act of the Parliament of James III. 1469, c. 9,a which enacts that the extortions referred to shall be " forborn in tyme tocum, and na sic extorsiones be takin of the kingis liegiis under the payn of punycioune of thair personis at the kings will, and to be put fra the executione of their office for a zeir to cum." So much were these rights and privileges regarded as parts and pertinents of the office of constable, that they did not need to form the subject of special grant.

When a royal castle is disponed either in property or custody, the infeftment thereof, says Stair,3 " carries therewith not only the bounds of the castle but the dependencies thereof, as gardens, orchards, parks, meadows, and other ground, possessed by the king or keeper for the use of the castle, and all rents, annuities, jurisdictions, and privileges thereunto belonging, which may be instructed by their charters, their court books, or other writs or instruments, and even by witnesses proving long possession ; so," adds he, " though an infeftment of constabulary bear only in general officium constabularii cum feodis et divoriis ejusdem, yet it was found [in the case of the Earl of Kinghorn v. the Town of Forfar, 1 8th July 1676] to extend to the proclaiming and riding of fairs anterior to the constitution of the office, and exercising criminal jurisdiction in the town where the fairs were held during these fairs, but not to extend to other fairs recently granted by the King, or to any jurisdiction at other times."

About the same time that the decision in the case of the Earl of Kinghorn was pronounced, however, Lord Halton, Treasurer-Depute and Constable of Dundee, would appear to have obtained from the Privy Council a decree, finding that, as constable, he had the haill criminal jurisdiction within that 1 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, ii. 46. 2 Ibid., ii. 95. 3 Stair's Institutes, by Brodie, i. p. 278 ; B. ii. s. 65. Burgh privatively, and the civil jurisdiction cumulative A and on this and other decrees obtained by that official from the Court of Session, as it was then " packed,"2 and of which he was one of the judges, the Magistrates and burghers of Dundee appear to have been subjected to a system of petty despotism, which, even in those days, " caused great outcry."3 Although the privileges thus recognised were exorbitant and in excess, according to Foun tainhall, of what " the Scrymgeours, former constables of Dundee, who were haughty and great men," ever possessed, the reports of these cases illus trate the nature of the powers and perquisites of the office of constable,4 and so are worthy of perusal.5 A still inferior order of constables were those whom the Bishops and Barons, following the example of the Sovereign, appointed keepers of their castles, and who, according to Chalmers, exercised authority over their peculiar district.

Of this he gives as an instance the case of William de Landeles, Archbishop of St Andrews, who, in 1383, granted to John Wymes of Kirkaldie, and his heirs male, the constableship of the castle and city of St Andrews, together with some lands, and a power to substitute constables in case of minority.6 All the inferior constabularies in Scotland were abolished by the Act 20 George II., c. 43, which, however, expressly reserved to the possessors, their heirs and successors, the whole lands, feu and farm duties annexed to these offices. The bailies of burghs, observes Bankton, must exercise the constables' jurisdiction in relation to fairs, now that these offices are extinguished.7 Out of the high magistracy of constable, says Lambard, an English lawyer, quoted both by Blackstone and by Mackenzie,8 were drawn the inferior constables of Hundreds in England, from which country, says Mackenzie, we have borrowed the office of constable, and made it subservient to the Justices of the Peace.

The connection between offices so dissimilar as those of the Lord High Constable, or even the constables of castles, and those of 0 ± 1 Fountainhall' s Sup. to Morrison's Decisions, iii. 112. 2 Fountainhall' s Notices of Scotch Affairs, i. 1 17. 3 Morrison's Decisions in the Court of Session, 10,273 ; 16,680. * Morrison's Decisions, 16,680. 21st February 1679. Fountainhall's Historical Notices, i. 129. Fountainhall's Historical Observes, 79. s See also Robertson's " Scotland under her early Kings," i. 306-308. « Caledonia, i. 709. Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, iv. 496. ' Bankton's Institutes of the Laws of Scotland, ii. p. 533. » Blackstone, i. c. 9, s. 4. Mackenzie on Criminal Law, 186. E high and petty constables, is unintelligible, without a reference to those Anglo-Saxon institutions which form the basis of much that is most valuable in our national character and political constitution.

With the Anglo-Saxon, as with other branches of the Teutonic race, all political relations rested on the basis of family and kindred. His relation to the State was that of one of a family whose members were bound to render mutual aid against violence ; and this principle availed not only for the protection of the country against foreign aggression, but for the preservation of order and the prevention of crime, by the maintenance of a system of police adapted to the state of society as it then existed. The country was divided into various parts : first and primarily, into Towns or Townships, which, in the Saxon acceptation of the term, included originally the enclosure surrounding the homestead or dwelling of the thane or lord, but was gradually extended to the whole of the land which constituted the domain.1 Every township had its lord, and the ceorls resident in it elected a gerefa, or reeve as chief officer, and " four good and lawful men," who, with the reeve, represented it in the courts of the hundred and shire.2 In order both to facilitate the organization of the in habitants for military purposes, and to afford better security against crime, recourse was had, at a later stage of Anglo-Saxon development, to an old, and probably an originally military, division of the country3 into Tithings, each of which included the families of ten freemen, and was presided over by one of the principal inhabitants annually elected by the others for that purpose, and called the tithing man or head-boroitgh, and in some countries bors holder or borough ealder.

In one or other of these tithings, every freeman, whose rank and possessions were not in themselves a sufficient guarantee, was enrolled, and as each member of the tithing was responsible for the good conduct of the remaining nine, and so was supplied with a motive for vigilance, the tithings of the kingdom were in fact its police, — the most effective system possible in such a state of society.4 But the tithings did not limit their supervision to cases of unlawful violence and crime. They took cognizance of all matters which " compromised the public weal, or touched upon the rights or well-being of others."6 The next division 1 Palgrave's Rise and Progress ofthe English Commonwealth, p. 65. 2 This division was afterwards superseded by the Norman Manor. 3 Lappenberg's England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, by Thorpe, ii. 332. ' Vaughan's Revolutions in English History, i. 252, 253. 5 Kemble's Anglo-Saxons, i. 251. was that of Hundreds, or Wapentakes as they were termed in the more northern counties, each hundred including ten tithings, or one hundred families.