e, the
principal maxims of the common law, the penalties for misdemesnors,
and the forms of judicial proceedings. Thus much may at least be
collected from that injunction to observe it, which we find in the
laws of king Edward the elder, the son of Alfred[e]. "_Omnibus qui
reipublicae praesunt, etiam atque etiam mando, ut omnibus aequos se
praebeant judices, perinde ac in judiciali libro_ (_Saxonice_,
[Anglo-Saxon: dom-bec]) _scriptum habetur; nec quicquam formident quin
jus commune_ (_Saxonice_, [Anglo-Saxon: folcrihte]) _audacter
libereque dicant._"

[Footnote e: _c._ 1.]

BUT the irruption and establishment of the Danes in England which
followed soon after, introduced new customs and caused this code of
Alfred in many provinces to fall into disuse; or at least to be mixed
and debased with other laws of a coarser alloy. So that about the
beginning of the eleventh century there were three principal systems
of laws prevailing in different districts. 1. The _Mercen-Lage_, or
Mercian laws, which were observed in many of the midland counties, and
those bordering on the principality of Wales; the retreat of the
antient Britons; and therefore very probably intermixed with the
British or Druidical customs. 2. The _West-Saxon-Lage_, or laws of the
west Saxons, which obtained in the counties to the south and west of
the island, from Kent to Devonshire. These were probably much the same
with the laws of Alfred abovementioned, being the municipal law of the
far most considerable part of his dominions, and particularly
including Berkshire, the seat of his peculiar residence. 3. The
_Dane-Lage_, or Danish law, the very name of which speaks it's
original and composition. This was principally maintained in the rest
of the midland counties, and also on the eastern coast, the seat of
that piratical people. As for the very northern provinces, they were
at that time under a distinct government[f].

[Footnote f: Hal. Hist. 55.]

OUT of these three laws, Roger Hoveden[g] and Ranulphus Cestrensis[h]
inform us, king Edward the confessor extracted one uniform law or
digest of laws, to be observed throughout the whole kingdom; though
Hoveden and the author of an old manuscript chronicle[i] assure us
likewise, that this work was projected and begun by his grandfather
king Edgar. And indeed a general digest of the same nature has been
constantly found expedient, and therefore put in practice by other
great nations, formed from an assemblag