218
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
land, sufficient for easy or even wealthy subsistence ;
but this will not make him fully a free man, give
him his full position in the ∏-oλlτeuμa or polity, and
place him on a level with the free inhabitants of
the Mark.
Till periods very late in comparison with that
which is assumed in the course of this argument, a
similar principle prevails in our legislation upon this
subject. Glanville says, “It is also to be observed
that a man may enfranchise his serf in respect of
the persons of himself or his heirs, but not in re-
spect of others. For if any one, having once been
a serf, and afterwards having attained to freedom in
this manner, should be produced in court against a
third party to support a cause, or for the purpose
of making any law of the land, he may justly
be removed therefrom, if his birth in villenage
should be objected to and proved against him in
the court, even though the serf so enfranchised
should have come to be promoted unto a knight’s
degree1.”
Later still, liberty seems considered as a privilege
the value of which might be diminished by its ex-
tension ; and Fleta gives as a reason why the lord
is bound to pursue his fugitive serf, “ lest by neg-
ligence of the lords, serfs should prevail to assert
their own freedom2.”
On consideration therefore of all the facts, we
must conclude that where full and complete manu-
mission was intended, the transaction could only be
’ Lib. v. cap. 5.
Lib. i. cap. 7, § 7, 8.
сн. vιπ.J
THE UNFREE. THE SERF.
219
completed in the presence and with the co-opera-
tion of the community, whereby all claims besides
those of the manumitting lord would be formally
estopped for the future. And this would be nearly
equivalent to the admission (rare indeed) of a metic
or other stranger to the full rights of citizenship at
Athens, which could hardly have effect without a
ψηφισμa or deliberate vote of the whole people1.
Accordingly even in the laws of William the Con-
queror and Henry the First we find evidence that
the Completest publicity was given to formal manu-
missions2; and it is not unreasonable to believe
that this refers back to ¾ time when such publicity
may have consisted in the presentation of the serf
before the assembled folcmot, and their expressed
or implied assent to the solemn act.
Practically however, it is probable that the dis-
solution of servitude did not absolutely confer all
the privileges of freedom. The numerous acts of
manumission directed by the wills of great Iand-
' The slaves who fought on the Athenian side at Arginusae were
manumitted and enrolled among the Plataeans, being thus admitted into
the πoλiτeυμa. We Ieam this from a fragment of Hellanicus, preserved
in the Scholiast on Arist. Ran. 694 : the words are, τovs σvvvavμaχη-
<rαιταs δovλoυr ,Eλλ<mκ<⅛ φησιv eKevβtpa>θηvaι, κai eγγpaφcvτat ωs
∏λaτawιj συμπokιτeυσaσθaι aυτoιs. See also Niebuhr (Hare and Thirl-
wall), p. 264. The Langobards upon a somewhat similar occasion
manumitted their serfs. “ Igitur Langobardi, ut bellatorum possint
ampliare nunιerum, plures a servili iugo ereptos, ad Iibertatis statum
Perducunt. Utque rata eorum haberi posset Iibertas, sanciunt, more
solito, per sagittam, inmurmurantes nihilominus, ob rei firmitatem,
quaedam patria verba.” Paul. Diac, de Gest. i. 13.
“ Si qui vero velit servum suuɪn liberum facere, tradat eum vice-
comiti,” etc. Leg. Wil. iii. § IS. “Quiservum suumlibérât, in aecclesia,
vel mercato, vel comitatu, vel hundreto,” etc. Leg. Hen. I. 1, § 78.