In the work of reform Henry appears to have found in Glanville an enthusiastic and an able helper. This treatise is full of praise of the King and his legislation. The peaceful governing of its people is a great object of regal power, it is asserted. The king, who loves peace and is the author of it, conducts himself justly, discreetly, and mercifully toward his subjects. His will is law, if promulgated as such by the advice of his nobles; that and reasonable customs, long used, form the Laws of England, which may usefully, in part at least, be reduced to writing. IV. THE TREATISE AND THE LAW. It is possible from Glanville’s treatise to get a rather complete picture of the common law at the end of the reign of Henry II. In the lord’s courts were regularly brought not only the suits of the villein tenants, but all suits concerning land held of the lord. Suits of the latter sort, however, must be begun by the King’s writ; if the lord refused justice, resort might be had to the county court in all suits involving freehold land; and the lord might on his own motion adjourn a question of difficulty into the King’s court. The county court had original jurisdiction of questions of villeinage and of customary service, and of any question sent to it by the King’s writ; and it had jurisdiction over writs of right removed from the lord’s court. It apparently, also, had jurisdiction of disputes as to title or possession of personal property. The ecclesiastical courts had jurisdiction of questions of marriage and legitimacy, of wills, and of disputes involving ecclesiastical questions only; the King’s court would prohibit them by writ from interfering in other matters. The procedure in the King’s court did not differ greatly from the present procedure. A suit was begun by writ, served by the sheriff, and enforced by the distraint of the defendant’s land. The most important feature of the procedure was the elaborate system of rules governing _essoins_ or continuances. By a skilful use of essoins the defendant or tenant could prolong proceedings on a writ of right for years; the fact that in the new possessory assises few essoins were allowed, and the proceedings were therefore much prompter, contributed greatly to the favor with which they were received. Final judgment in the King’s court was by this time enrolled; and the method of conveying land by levying a fine was in full operation.