The hundred was a division of the shire, having come to refer to a
geographical area rather than a number of households. The monthly
hundred-mote could be attended by any freeman holding land (or a
lord's steward), but was usually attended only by reeve, thegns,
parish priest, and four representatives selected by each agrarian
community or village - usually villeins. Here transfers of land
were witnessed. A reeve, sometimes the sheriff, presided over
local criminal and peace and order issues ["leet jurisdiction",
which derived from sac and soc jurisdiction] and civil cases at
the hundred court. All residents were expected to attend the leet
court. The sheriff usually held each hundred court in turn. The
suitors to these courts were the same as those of the shire
courts. They were the judges who declared the law and ordered the
form of proof, such as compurgatory oath and ordeal. They were
customarily thegns, often twelve in number. They, as well as the
king and the earl, received part of the profits of justice.
Summary procedure was followed when a criminal was caught in the
act or seized after a hue and cry. Every freeman over age twelve
had to be in a hundred and had to follow the hue and cry.
"No one shall make distraint [seizure of personal property out of
the possession of an alleged wrong-doer into the custody of the
party injured, to procure a satisfaction for a wrong committed] of
property until he has appealed for justice in the hundred court
and shire court".
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