Under the Saxon organization of England, each county or shire comprisedan indefinite number of hundreds, each hundred containing ten tit kings, orgroups of ten families of freeholders or frankpledges. The hundred was governed by ahigh constable, and had its own court; but its most remarkable feature was the corporateresponsibility of the whole for the crimes or defaults of the individual members.The introduction of this plan of organization into England Is commonly ascribed toAlfred, but the idea, as well of the collective liability as of tbe division, was probablyknown to the ancient German peoples, as we find the same thing established in theFrankish kingdom under Clothaire, and in Denmark. See 1 Bl. Comm. 115; 4 Bl. Comm. 411.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
