his statutes, or by his judges.]

[Footnote 49: Of course, Mr. Reeve means to be understood that, in the
hundred court, and court-leet, _the jurors were the judges_, as he
declares them to have been in the county court; otherwise the "bailiff"
or "steward" must have been judge.]

[Footnote 50: The jurors were sometimes called "assessors," because they
assessed, or determined the amount of fines and amercements to be
imposed.]

[Footnote 51: "The barons of the Hundred" were the freeholders. Hallam
says: "The word _baro_, originally meaning only a man, was of very large
significance, and is not unfrequently applied to common freeholders, as
in the phrase _court-baron_."--_3 Middle Ages_, 14-15.

_Blackstone_ says: "The _court-baron_ * * is a court of common law, and
it is the court of the barons, by which name the freeholders were
sometimes anciently called; for that it is held before the freeholders
who owe suit and service to the manor."--_3 Blackstone_, 33.]

[Footnote 52: The ancient jury courts kept no records, because those who
composed the courts could neither make nor read records. Their decisions
were preserved by the memories of the jurors and other persons present.]

[Footnote 53: Stuart says:

"The courts, or civil arrangements, which were modelled in Germany,
preserved the independence of the people; and having followed the Saxons
into England, and continuing their importance, they supported the envied
liberty we boast of. * *

"As a chieftain led out his retainers to the field, and governed them
during war; so in peace he summoned them together, and exerted a civil
jurisdiction. He was at once their captain and their judge. They
constituted his court; and having inquired with him into the guilt of
those of their order whom justice had accused, they assisted him to
enforce his decrees.

"This court (the court-baron) was imported into England; but the
innovation which conquest introduced into the fashion of the times
altered somewhat its appearance. * *

"The head or lord of the manor called forth his attendants to his hall.
* * He inquired into the breaches of custom, and of justice, which were
committed within the precincts of his territory; and with his followers,
_who sat with him as judges_, he determined in all matters of debt, and
of trespass to a certain amount. He possessed a similar jurisdiction
with the chieftain in Germany, and his tenants enjoyed an equal
authority with the German reta