Sometimes the victory rests with the lord, and sometimes
with the burgesses. Accordingly, there are two kinds of chartered town. The larger
class includes communities enjoying certain privileges under the rule of
seignorial functionaries. A smaller class consists of those which are not only
privileged but "free," that is, self-governing bodies corporate. The
distinction between the two classes is not precise enough to satisfy a modern
lawyer. Often a "free" town is obliged to allow the lord some voice
in the appointment of magistrates; while the humblest body of traders may enjoy
the right of doing justice in a market-court without the interference of a
bailiff. The one class shades off into the other, if only for the reason that
"freedom" is usually won by a gradual process of bargaining or
encroachment on the part of towns which are already privileged. The higher type
is simply a later stage in the natural course of municipal development.
If we analyse the privileges of those towns which remain
in leading-strings, the first in order of time and of importance is the town-peace,
which only the king or his delegate can grant. Invested with this peace the
town becomes, like a royal palace or the shrine of a saint, a sanctuary
protected by special pains and penalties; the burgess stands to the king in the
same relation as the widow and the orphan; to do him wrong is an outrage
against the royal majesty. Next comes the right of trade. The burgesses are
allowed to commute their servile dues and obligations for a fixed money-rent,
that they may be at liberty for pursuits more lucrative than agriculture.
