to be in
theory, a general council of the realm.

[Footnote a: Mod. Un. Hist. xxiii. 307.]

[Footnote b: _De minoribus rebus principes consultant, de majoribus
omnes._ Tac. _de mor. Germ._ _c._ 11.]

WITH us in England this general council hath been held immemorially,
under the several names of _michel-synoth_, or great council,
_michel-gemote_ or great meeting, and more frequently _wittena-gemote_
or the meeting of wise men. It was also stiled in Latin, _commune
concilium regni_, _magnum concilium regis_, _curia magna_, _conventus
magnatum vel procerum_, _assisa generalis_, and sometimes _communitas
regni Angliae_[c]. We have instances of it's meeting to order the
affairs of the kingdom, to make new laws, and to amend the old, or, as
Fleta[d] expresses it, "_novis injuriis emersis nova constituere
remedia_," so early as the reign of Ina king of the west Saxons, Offa
king of the Mercians, and Ethelbert king of Kent, in the several
realms of the heptarchy. And, after their union, the mirrour[e]
informs us, that king Alfred ordained for a perpetual usage, that
these councils should meet twice in the year, or oftener, if need be,
to treat of the government of God's people; how they should keep
themselves from sin, should live in quiet, and should receive right.
Our succeeding Saxon and Danish monarchs held frequent councils of
this sort, as appears from their respective codes of laws; the titles
whereof usually speak them to be enacted, either by the king with the
advice of his wittena-gemote, or wise men, as, "_haec sunt instituta,
quae Edgarus rex consilio sapientum suorum instituit_;" or to be
enacted by those sages with the advice of the king, as, "_haec sunt
judicia, quae sapientes consilio regis Ethelstani instituerunt_;" or
lastly, to be enacted by them both together, as; "_hae sunt
institutiones, quas rex Edmundus et episcopi sui cum sapientibus suis
instituerunt_."

[Footnote c: Glanvil. _l._ 13 _c._ 32. _l._ 9. _c._ 10.--Pref. 9
Rep.--2 Inst. 526.]

[Footnote d: _l._ 2. _c._ 2.]

[Footnote e: c. 1. Sec. 3.]

THERE is also no doubt but these great councils were held regularly
under the first princes of the Norman line. Glanvil, who wrote in the
reign of Henry the second, speaking of the particular amount of an
amercement in the sheriff's court, says, it had never yet been
ascertained by the general assise, or assembly, but was left to the
custom of particular counties[f]. Here the general assise is spok