The Governments of Europe | Page 6

shire was an ealdorman, appointed by the king and
witan, generally from the prominent men of the shire. Subordinate to
him at first, but in time overshadowing him, was the shire-reeve, or
sheriff, who was essentially a representative of the crown, sent to
assume charge of the royal lands in the shire, to collect the king's
revenue, and to receive the king's share of the fines imposed in the
courts. Each shire had its moot, and by reason of the fact that the shires
and bishoprics were usually coterminous, the bishop sat with the
ealdorman as joint president of this assemblage. In theory, at least, the

shire-moot was a gathering of the freemen of the shire. It met, as a rule,
twice a year, and to it were entitled to come all freemen, in person or by
representation. It was within the competence of those who did not
desire to attend to send as spokesmen their reeves or stewards; so that
the body was likely to assume the character of a mixed primary and
representative assembly. The shire-moot decided disputes pertaining to
the ownership of land, tried suits for which a hearing could not be
obtained in the court of the hundred, and exercised an incidental
ecclesiastical jurisdiction.[6]
[Footnote 6: The classic description of Anglo-Saxon political
institutions is W. Stubbs, Constitutional History of England in its
Origin and Development, 3 vols. (6th ed., Oxford, 1897), especially I.,
74-182; but recent scholarship has supplemented and modified at many
points the facts and views therein set forth. A useful account (though
likewise subject to correction) is H. Taylor, The Origins and Growth of
the English Constitution, 2 vols. (new ed., Boston, 1900), I., Bk. 1.,
Chaps. 3-5; and a repository of information is J. Ramsay, The
Foundations of England, 2 vols. (London, 1898). A valuable sketch is
A. B. White, The Making of the English Constitution, 449-1485 (New
York, 1908), 16-62. A brilliant book is E. A. Freeman, The Growth of
the English Constitution (4th ed., London, 1884); but by reason of
Professor Freeman's over-emphasis of the perpetuation of Anglo-Saxon
institutions in later times this work is to be used with caution. Political
and institutional history is well set forth in T. Hodgkin, History of
England to the Norman Conquest (London, 1906), and C. W. C. Oman,
England before the Norman Conquest (London, 1910). A useful
manual is H. M. Chadwick, Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions
(Cambridge, 1905); and an admirable bibliography is C. Gross, The
Sources and Literature of English History (London, 1900).]
III. THE NORMAN-PLANTAGENET PERIOD (p. 006)
At the coming of William the Conqueror, in 1066, two fundamental
principles may be said to have been firmly fixed in the English political
system. The first was that of thoroughgoing local self-government. The
second was that of the obligation of the king, in all matters of first-rate

importance, such as the laying of taxes and the making of laws, to seek
the counsel and consent of some portion of his subjects. In the period
which was inaugurated by the Conquest neither of these principles was
entirely subverted, yet the Norman era stands out distinctly as one in
which the powers of government were gathered in the hands of the king
and of his immediate agents in a measure unknown at any earlier time.
Building in so far as was possible upon foundations already laid,
William was able so to manoeuver the consequences of the Conquest as
to throw the advantages all but wholly upon the side of the crown.
Feudalism, land-tenure, military service, taxation, the church--to all
was imparted, by force or by craft, such a bent that the will of the
sovereign acquired the practical effect of law, and monarchy in
England, traditionally weak, was brought to the verge of sheer
absolutism.
*7. Extension of Centralized Control.*--In respect to the actual
mechanism of government the principal achievement of the
Norman-Plantagenet period was the overhauling and consolidation of
the agencies of administration. Despite the fact that local institutions of
Saxon origin were largely respected, so that they have continued to this
day the most substantial Anglo-Saxon contribution to English polity,
there was a notable linking-up of these hitherto largely disassociated
institutions with the institutions of the central government. This was
accomplished in part by the dissolution of the earldoms by which the
monarchy had been menaced in later Saxon days, and in part by a
tremendous increase of the power and importance of the sheriffs. It was
accomplished still more largely, however, by the organization of two
great departments of government--those of justice and
finance--presided over by dignitaries of the royal household and
manned by permanent staffs of expert officials. The department of
justice comprised the Curia; that of finance, the Exchequer. At the head
of the one was the Chancellor; at the head