in
matter of fact or in matter of law." (Here various Saxon laws are
quoted.) "In neither of these fundamental laws is there the least
word, hint, or idea, that the earl or alderman (that is to say, the
_Prepositus_ (presiding officer) of the court, which is tantamount to
_the judge on the bench_) is to take upon him to judge the delinquent
in any sense whatever, the sole purport of his office is to _teach_
the secular or worldly law."--_Ditto_, p. 57, _note_.

"The administration of justice was carefully provided for; it was not
the caprice of their lord, _but the sentence of their peers, that
they obeyed. Each was the judge of his equals, and each by his equals
was judged._"--_Introd. to Gilbert on Tenures_, p. 12.

Hallam says: "A respectable class of free socagers, having, in
general, full rights of alienating their lands, and holding them
probably at a small certain rent from the lord of the manor,
frequently occur in Domes-day Book. * * They undoubtedly were suitors
to the court-baron of the lord, to whose soc, or right of justice,
they belonged. _They were consequently judges in civil causes,
determined before the manorial tribunal._"--_2 Middle Ages_, 481.

Stephens adopts as correct the following quotations from Blackstone:

"The _Court-Baron_ is a court incident to every manor in the kingdom,
to be holden by the steward within the said manor." * * _It "is a
court of common law, and it is the court before the freeholders who
owe suit and service to the manor_," (are bound to serve as jurors in
the courts of the manor,) "_the steward being rather the registrar
than the judge_. * * The freeholders' court was composed of the
lord's tenants, who were the _pares_ (equals) of each other, and were
bound by their feudal tenure to assist their lord in the dispensation
of domestic justice. This was formerly held every three weeks; _and
its most important business was to determine, by writ of right, all
controversies relating to the right of lands within the manor_."--_3
Stephens' Commentaries_, 392-3. _3 Blackstone_, 32-3.

"A _Hundred Court_ is only a larger court-baron, being held for all
the inhabitants of a particular hundred, instead of a manor. _The
free suitors (jurors) are here also the judges, and the steward the
register._"--_3 Stephens_, 394. _3 Blackstone_, 33.

"The _County Court_ is a court incident