attendance being only required at the courts of the _Cymmud_ and of the king--for the earldom was unknown in Wales--where, in the absence of the sovereign, the _Effeiriad_, the _Distyn_ and the _Brawddwr-Llys_ presided; or the royal chaplain (the equivalent perhaps of the Scandinavian _Hird-Bishop_), the high-steward as president of all the _Maers_, and the court judge as senior of all the _Cynghellwrs_.[310] It was in a great assembly of the whole free population of the united people that “the laws of Aodh the Fair,” involving, probably, the right of his descendants to the throne, were recognised in the reign of the first Donald; a similar assemblage under Constantine the Second, on the Moot Hill of Scone, appears to have ratified, or assented to, the ecclesiastical constitution of the Scottish church of that period; and it was in great meetings of a similar description, and at the same place, that it was “the custom of the Scots” to choose their kings, or rather perhaps to confirm the selection of their Seniors.[311] The affairs of a province, or _Mormaordom_, appear to have been regulated in a similar assemblage on a smaller scale; and a description of such a meeting in the olden time will be found in the Registry of the Priory of St. Andrews, part of the property of the priory having been held by a verdict given in a general assembly of the province. When Sir Robert Burgoin encroached upon the lands of Kirkinnis an appeal was at once made to king David, who despatched his messengers throughout the united district of Fife and Fotheriff to convene the people of the province. The place of meeting is not mentioned; but thither came Earl Constantine of Fife, “a discreet and eloquent man,” at this time Justiciary of Scotland, with “the Satraps, Satellites, and Hosting” of the county; or the free proprietary who held under the Mormaor, with their kinsmen, and the followers who would have been known amongst the Northmen as _Thingmen_. The presence of the Bishop is not alluded to, but thither came his _Hosting_, or all the Frank-tenantry of the broad lands restored by Alexander to the church, under the captaincy of Budadh and Slogodadh--_Toshachs_ or leaders apparently of the military contingent due from the church-lands in the province--and under the presidency of Macbeth, Thane of Falkland, probably the Maor, Baillie, or _Vidame_ of the bishop. When the whole community of the province was assembled, three arbiters were chosen to try the case,--Earl Constantine as justiciary; Maldonaeth Mac Machedach, “a good and discreet judge,” the _Brehon_ probably of the province; and Dugal Mac Moccha, on account of his venerable age,--the number of the arbiters exactly coinciding with the number of judges in a Welsh court. The cause was conducted on the principle of compurgation--in earlier times it would have been decided by battle--the abbot in legal phrase “swearing _se sexta manu_;” or, in other words, Abbot Dubtach