In a kingdom subdivided into so many counties, hundreds, tithings, manors, cities and boroughs, each having a judicial or police organization of its own, it is evident that many of the officers must have been chosen by the people, else the government could not have mainlined its popular character. On the other hand, it is evident that the king, the executive power of the nation, must have had large numbers of officers of his own in every part of the kingdom. And it is perfectly natural that these different sets of officers should, in many instances, bear the same official names; and, consequently that the king, when speaking of his own officers, as distinguished, from those chosen by the people, should call them "our sheriffs, bailiffs," &c;, as he does in Magna Carta. I apprehend that inattention to these considerations has been the cause of all the confusion of ideas that has arisen on this subject, a confusion very evident in the following paragraph from Dunham, which may be given as an illustration of that which is exhibited by others on the same points. "Subordinate to the ealdormen were the gerefas, the sheriffs, or reeves, of whom there were several in every shire, or county. There was one in every borough, as a judge. There was one at every gate, who witnessed purchases outside the walls; and there was one, higher than either, the high sheriff, who was probably the reeve of the shire. This last appears to have been appointed by the king. Their functions were to execute the decrees of the king, or ealdormen, to arrest prisoners, to require bail for their appearance at the sessions, to collect fines or penalties levied by the court of the shire, to preserve the public peace, and to preside in a subordinate tribunal of their own." Durham's Middle Ages, sec. 2, B. 2, ch. 1. - 57 Lardner's Cab. Cyc., p 41. The confusion of duties attributed to these officers indicates clearly enough that different officers, bearing the same official names, must have had different duties, and have derived their authority from different sources, to wit, the king, and the people. [2] Darrein presentement was an inquest to discover who presented the last person to a church; mort de ancestor, whether the last possessor was seized of land in demesne of his own fee; and novel disseisin, whether the claimant had been unjustly disseized of his freehold. [3] He has no power to do it, either with, or without, the king's command. The prohibition is absolute, containing no such qualification as is here interpolated, viz., "without the king's command." If it could be done with the king's command, the king would be invested with arbitrary power in the matter.