"We must abandon," says sir Francis Palgrave, "any conjectures as to the government of the boroughs in the earlier periods. We must rest satisfied with the fact that, in the reign of the Confessor, the larger boroughs had assumed the form of communities, which, without much impropriety, may be described as territorial corporations. The legal character of the burgess arose from his possessions; it was a real right, arising from the qualifications which he held. The burgess was the owner of a tenement within the walls, and the possession might descend to his heirs, or be freely alienated to a stranger." The same writer considers that, in some instances, the possession of land imparted the right of judicature in the borough mote, or town assembly; but that while such persons were aldermen by tenure, there were other boroughs which possessed an elective magistracy. The nature of the Anglo-Saxon institutions has long been matter of dispute, and considerable doubt surrounds the interesting subject, which the most diligent and learned antiquaries are unable to dispel; but, so far as our municipal history is concerned, probably the twofold view of the organization of the Saxon towns suggested by sir F. Palgrave, is correct. The towns in which the tenure of land gave magisterial authority would most likely be the smaller ones, while elective magistrates would distinguish the larger communities. The following account by M. Thierry is, perhaps, accurate:--"The burgesses of London,[1] like those of most of the larger Anglo-Saxon towns, composed, under the designation of _hause_, a municipal corporation, which had the privilege of conducting the government of the city, and regulating its police. The presence of the king made no difference in its institutions, and the burgesses might, even without his permission, assemble and deliberate together on the internal administration of their city."[2] But this account, we apprehend, must be carefully restricted to the large towns of the Anglo-Saxons, or it will mislead the reader. Towns in general we cannot believe had attained to such power and independency. Still, even the existence of a few such towns, tending as they did to leaven the mass of the community with their own free sentiments, indicate the attainment of a no small degree of liberal civilisation by our Saxon ancestors.