d more independent
possessions and jurisdictions in their own country; and William was
obliged, in the new distribution of land, to copy the tenures which
were now become universal on the continent. England of a sudden
became a feudal kingdom [g]; and received all the advantages, and was
exposed to all the inconveniences, incident to that species of civil
polity.
[FN [g] Coke, Comm. on Lit. p. 1, 2. ad sect. 1.]

[MN The feudal government of England.]
According to the principles of the feudal law, the king was the
supreme lord of the landed property: all possessors, who enjoyed the
fruits or revenue of any part of it, held those privileges, either
mediately or immediately, of him; and their property was conceived to
be in some degree conditional [h]. The land was still apprehended to
be a species of BENEFICE, which was the original conception of a
feudal property; and the vassal owed, in return for it, stated
services to his baron, as the baron himself did for his land to the
crown. The vassal was obliged to defend his baron in war; and the
baron, at the head of his vassals, was bound to fight in defence of
the king and kingdom. But besides these military services, which were
casual, there were others imposed of a civil nature, which were more
constant and durable.
[FN [h] Somner of Gavelk. p. 109. Smith de Rep. lib. 3. cap. 10.]

The northern nations had no idea that any man, trained up to honour,
and inured to arms, was ever to be governed, without his own consent,
by the absolute will of another; or that the administration of justice
was ever to be exercised by the private opinion of any one magistrate,
without the concurrence of some other persons, whose interest might
induce them to check his arbitrary and iniquitous decisions. The
king, therefore, when he found it necessary to demand any service of
his barons or chief tenants, beyond what was due by their tenures, was
obliged to assemble them in order to obtain their CONSENT: and when it
was necessary to determine any controversy which might arise among the
barons themselves, the question must be discussed in their presence,
and be decided according to their opinion or ADVICE. In these two
circumstances of consent and advice consisted chiefly the civil
services of the ancient barons; and these implied all the considerable
incidents of government. In one view, the barons regarded this
attendance as their principal PRIVILEGE; in another, as a grievous
BU