liberties as other the king's subjects; 3dly, That lands in Wales shall be inheritable, according to the English tenures and rules of descent; 4thly, That the laws of England, and no other, shall be used in Wales: besides several other regulations and enactments of inferior importance.

The statute 34 & 35 Henry VIII. cap. 26. confirms the above statute, adds further regulations, and confers some privileges on the Welsh, particularly that there should be courts within the principality itself, independent of the process of Westminster Hall.* But this statute claims our attention, at present, more especially from its having given to the counties of Wales, and the adjoining counties of England, the names and boundaries they still retain This act divided the marches, or intermediate lands between England and Wales, partly into new counties, and partly annexed them to old counties. The new counties thus formed were, Monmouth, which was declared an English county; with Brecknock, Denbigh, Montgomery, and Radnor, assigned to Wales. Of the English counties, Gloucester, Hereford, and Shropshire, were augmented by annexations: of the Welsh, Cardigan, Caermarthen, Glamorgan, Merioneth, and Pembroke.

Trethings, Trithings, or Tridings, &c. - The next inferior division of the territory of England is into trethings, trithings, or tridings; lathes, and rapes. The former appellation is evidently derived from the circumstance of the county to which it is applied being divided into three parts. These trithings still subsist in the great county of York; where, by an easy corruption, they are denominated ridings. The terms lathes and rapes are of less certain etymology or meaning; but, though not synonymous with trithings, they signify a large division of a county, comprising from 3 to 4 hundreds. Kent is the only county divided into lathes; and Sussex the only one divided into rapes. These had formerly their lathe-reeves and rape-reeves, acting under the sheriff or shirereeve. The rapes of Sussex were military divisions at the time when Domesday Book was compiled; and the lathes of Kent may have had a similar origin, connected, perhaps, with the Cinque Ports, and for the defence of the coast against invasion. The county of Lincoln is divided into three districts, each of which, like the large divisions of Yorkshire, Kent, and Sussex, contains several hundreds. Perhaps, also, the shires, which are found in some of the northern counties, though now merely nominal, were originally larger divisions of a

In 1831 the Welsh system of judicature was abolished; the Welsh counties being attached to the Oxford and Western Circuits, according to the convenience of their situations.

similar nature; as Hallamshire, comprising the district round Sheffield; Richmondshire in the North Riding, and Howdenshire in the East Riding, of Yorkshire; Hexhamshire and Bamboroughshire, in Northumberland; and Norhamshire and Islandshire, comprising those parts of the county of Durham that lie to the north of Northumberland. Parts of several other counties, as well as Durham, lie detached this is very remarkably the case with Worcester.

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Hundreds. - The next inferior division is that of hundreds. This division seems rather to have been introduced into England, than invented in it; and there is reason to believe that the Saxons, in the southern part of the island, were the first to establish it. This institution, like all those of the Saxon period, which relate to the due administration of justice, has generally been ascribed to Alfred. But a similar division had been established in France 200 years before his era; "and, indeed," says Mr. Justice Blackstone," something like this institution of hundreds may be traced back as far as the ancient Germans, from whom were derived both the Franks, who became masters of Gaul, and the Saxons, who settled in England; for both the thing and the name, as a territorial assemblage of persons, from which afterwards the territory itself might, probably, receive its denomination, were well known to that warlike people. Centeni ex singulis pagis sunt, idque ipsum inter suos vocantur; et quod primus numerus fuit, jam nomen et honor est. Tacit. De Moribus German. 6." (Commentaries, Introd. § 4.)

It is uncertain whether the appellation of hundreds was given to these divisions because they contained 100 (which in Saxon numeration is equivalent to 120) persons, 100 heads of families, or, as some suppose, 100 farms. It is, however, most probable, that each hundred contained 100 (120) heads of families of freemen. That the hundreds were regulated by population, is evident from the great number of hundreds in the counties that were first peopled by the Saxons; or which, from their local situation, were least exposed to the devastation of war; or, from their natural fertility, were most likely to attract, and most capable of supporting, a great number of inhabitants; while, on the contrary, the counties gained by the Saxons at a later period, which were held by them on a precarious tenure, and continually liable to invasion, or which were naturally uninviting, contain comparatively very few hundreds. Thus, according to Domesday Book, there were, in Kent and Sussex, at the period when that survey took place, respectively, 62 and 64 hundreds, the numbers they contain at present. Norfolk, though only about the fifth county in the kingdom, in point of extent, contains 660 parishes (a greater number than any other county), and 33

hundreds. Suffolk contains 575 parishes, and 21 hundreds; and Essex 415 parishes, and 20 hundreds: whereas, in Lancashire, there are only 6 hundreds; in Cheshire, 7; in Cornwall, 9; in Northumberland, 7 divisions, which correspond to hundreds; and in Cumberland, 5. In some counties there are hundreds that do not exceed a square mile in area, nor contain more than 1000 persons. The hundreds of Lancashire, on the contrary, average 300 square miles, and the population of one of them, Salford hundred (including Manchester), amounted, in 1831, to 612,414! The population of the hundred of West Derby (including Liverpool) was, at the same time, 380,078.

This striking irregularity seems to have been felt as an inconvenience as early as the reign of Henry VIII., when the smaller hundreds were, in some instances, united, and the larger hundreds partitioned into districts, called divisions, limits, or circuits. These divisions still exist, more or less manifestly, in most of the English counties, and have been recognised in subsequent acts relating to the poor. Formerly a court was regularly held in each hundred, for the trial of causes; but this has now fallen into disuse.

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Wards and Wapentakes. In the northern parts of England, the counties were not divided into hundreds, but into wards and wapentakes: Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, and Durham continue to be divided into the former, and Yorkshire into the latter. Wards are so called from the inhabitants being obliged to keep watch or ward against the irruptions of the Scotch or Picts. The term wapentake is evidently synonymous with weapontake, and was given to the divisions of Yorkshire from the same circumstance.

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Tithings. The subdivision of hundreds into tithings is undoubtedly owing to Alfred. "In ancient times it was ordained, for the sure keeping of the peace, that all freeborn men should cast themselves into several companies, by 10 in each company; and that every one of these 10 men should be surety and pledge for the forthcoming of his fellows for which cause these companies, in some places, were called tithings; and as 10 times 10 make 100, so, because it was also appointed that 10 of these tithings should meet together for matters of greater weight, therefore that general assembly was called a hundred." One of the principal inhabitants of the tithing, who was called the tithingman, or headborough, and in some counties the borsholder, or boroughs-ealder, was annually appointed to preside over the rest, and to take care of their interests. Tithings are seldom mentioned now, except in legal proceedings, or in topographical descriptions.

Sokes. In Lincolnshire another species of division exists, called sokes. Soke, sok, soc, or soka, according to Bracton, signifies "the

power of administering justice; and the territory or precinct in which the chief lord did exercise his soke, that is, his liberty of keeping court, or holding trials within his own soke or jurisdiction."

Parishes. Although parishes were originally ecclesiastical divisions, they may now be more properly considered as coming under the class of civil divisions; and, consequently, claim our attention under this head. It is not easy to determine the era of the division of England into parishes: they are mentioned in the laws of King Edgar so early as 970, when the whole kingdom seems to have been divided into parishes; but it is probable that the division was not made at once, but by degrees. It is, according to Blackstone, pretty clear and certain, that the boundaries of parishes were originally ascertained by those of manors; for it very seldom happens that a manor extends itself over more parishes than one, though there are often many manors in one parish. The parochial division of England was nearly the same in the reign of Edward I. (1272—1307) as at present.

Parishes are frequently intermixed with one another. This seems to have arisen from the lord of the manor having had a parcel of land detached from the main part of his estate, but not sufficient to form a parish of itself. It was natural for him to endow the church which he had erected upon his principal estate with the tithes of these disjointed lands; especially if it happened that there was no church in any lordship adjoining to them.

The boundaries of parishes depend on immemorial custom; but it is probable that they were not settled with very minute precision till the introduction of the poor laws, when, in consequence of the claim for relief upon their particular parishes given to the poor, it became a matter of consequence to define exactly the limits of each parish. They cannot now be altered but by legislative enactment.

In the northern counties, where the parishes sometimes embrace 30 or 40 square miles, the poor laws, the due administration of which must always depend on an intimate knowledge of the situation and character of every one applying for relief, could not be properly carried into effect. To remedy this inconvenience, an act was passed in the 13th of Charles II. permitting townships and villages, though not entire parishes, severally and distinctly to maintain their own poor. Hence townships in the north of England may be regarded as divisions, subordinate to parishes; and are, in practice, as distinctly limited as if they were separate parishes.

Towns originally contained but one parish; but, from the increase of inhabitants, many of them are now divided into several parishes. Besides parishes, or townships, there are places which are deemed

extra-parochial, or not within the limits of any parish. They were formerly the site of religious houses, or of castles, the owners of which would not permit any interference with their rights. At present they enjoy some most valuable privileges, among others a virtual exemption from the poor's rate, because there is no overseer on whom the order of a magistrate may be served - from the militia laws, because there is no constable to make the return - and from repairing the highways, because there is no surveyor. Their tithes are, by immemorial custom, payable to the king instead of the bishop. The number of such places is not inconsiderable, amounting to more than 200. It seems highly inexpedient that any part of the country should enjoy such an exemption from burdens imposed for the benefit of the community. Extra-parochial wastes and marsh lands, when improved and drained, are assessed to all parochial rates in the parish next adjoining. In some counties, liberties interrupt the general course of law as affecting hundreds, in the same manner as extra-parochial places do with regard to parishes. This inconvenience is particularly felt in Dorsetshire. The number of parishes and parochial chapelries in England and Wales is not exactly ascertained; but there are not many doubtful cases, and, for any general purpose, they may safely be taken at 10,700. About 550 parishes extend into 2 counties, or into more than one hundred or other divisions. (Blackstone's Commentaries, Introd. § 4.; and Preliminary Remarks to Census of 1831, pp. 14-18.)

Towns. Under the general term town is now comprehended cities, boroughs, and common towns. A city is a town incorporated, which is, or has been, the see of a bishop: and, though the bishopric be dissolved, as at Westminster, it still remains a city. A borough is now understood to be a town, whether corporate or not, that sends burgesses to parliament. There are an immense number of other towns, which are neither cities nor boroughs; some of them having the privilege of markets, and others not. Several of these have small appendages, called hamlets, which are supposed by Spelman to have originally consisted of less than five freemen; but many of them have now grown to be considerable places. They are sometimes under the same administration as the town itself, and are sometimes governed by separate officers; in which case they are, in several respects, looked upon as separate townships.

SECT. 11.

Statistical Notices of the different English Counties.

England is, at present, divided into 40, and Wales into 12, counties. Of the former, 6 form the northern division; 4 border on Wales; the midland district consists of 12; the eastern of 8; the south-eastern of 3;