iament for his shire. For I do not think
Chaucer ignorant of the proper meaning of that word. And Allen says
(Edinb. Rev. xxviii. 145)--"In the earliest records of the house of
commons we have found many instances of sub-vassals who have represented
their counties in parliament."

If, however, it should be suggested that the practice of admitting the
votes of mesne tenants at county elections may have crept in by degrees,
partly by the constitutional principle of common consent, partly on
account of the broad demarcation of tenants _in capite_ by
knight-service from barons, which the separation of the houses of
parliament produced, thus tending, by diminishing the importance of the
former, to bring them down to the level of other freeholders; partly,
also, through the operation of the statute _Quia Emptores_ (18 Edward
I.), which, by putting an end to subinfeudation, created a new tenant of
the crown upon every alienation of land, however partial, by one who was
such already, and thus both multiplied their numbers and lowered their
dignity; this supposition, though incompatible with the argument built
on the nature of the county court, would be sufficient to explain the
facts, provided we do not date the establishment of the new usage too
low. The Lords' committee themselves, after much wavering, come to the
conclusion that "at length, if not always, two persons were elected by
all the freeholders of the county, whether holding in chief of the crown
or of others" (p. 331). This they infer from the petitions of the
commons that the mesne tenants should be charged with the wages of
knights of the shire; since it would not be reasonable to levy such
wages from those who had no voice in the election. They ultimately
incline to the hypothesis that the change came in silently, favoured by
the growing tendency to enlarge the basis of the constitution, and by
the operation of the statute _Quia Emptores_, which may not have been of
inconsiderable influence. It appears by a petition in 51 Edward III.
that much confusion had arisen with respect to tenures; and it was
frequently disputed whether lands were held of the king or of other
lords. This question would often turn on the date of alienation; and, in
the hurry of an election, the bias being always in favour of an extended
suffrage, it is to be supposed that the sheriff would not reject a claim
to vote which he had not leisure to investigate.

NOTE IV. Page 21.

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