Note 314 — Chapter IX · The State.

Assize David, 4–8, 12, 24, 25, 35. If the law about Mortancestrie and Novel Disseisin is correctly ascribed to David, it would be not a little remarkable, for the change was only introduced into the English law by Henry the Second, according to the highest testimony, Glanville (l. 1, c. 11–21, quoted by Blackstone). Such changes generally travelled northwards, and will be found in England before they took root in Scotland. Thus the attempt of James I. to establish a representative system amongst the lesser freeholders in Scotland is surely traceable to his residence in England, where a similar system was actually established by Henry IV. The regulation ascribed to David, however, is not identical with “the Grand Assize,” which was constituted by appointing four knights in every sheriffdom, who were to choose twelve others. By the Scottish law such questions were to be decided by the ordinary “Assize of the good country of twelve men.” By Welsh law all questions relating to succession to property were to be decided by the Henduriad Gwlad—the senior Gwrdha, or good men of the country—the judge pronouncing according to their decision, which was known as Dedfryd Gwlad, or the verdict of the country (Wootton, l. 2, c. 10). Whether this regulation was original, or derived from the principle introduced by Henry II., I cannot say.