The origin of the Gá in the federal union of two or more Marks is natural, and must be referred to periods far anterior to any historical record: that of the division into Shires, as well as the period at which this arose, are less easily determined. But we have evidence that some division into shires was known in Wessex as early as the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century, since Ini provides for the case where a plaintiff cannot obtain justice from his shireman or judge[142]; and the same prince declares that if an ealdorman compounds a felony, he shall forfeit his shire[143]; while he further enacts that no man shall secretly withdraw from his lord into another shire[144]. As it will be shown hereafter that a territorial jurisdiction is inseparably connected with the rank of a duke or ealdorman, I take the appearance of these officers in Mercia, during the same early period, to be evidence of the existence of a similar division there. Its cause appears to me to lie in the consolidation of the royal power. As long as independent associations of freemen were enabled to maintain their natural liberties, to administer their own affairs undisturbed by the power of strangers, and by means of their own private alliances to defend their territories and their rights, the old division into Gás might continue to exist. But the centralization of power in the hands of the king implies a more artificial system. It is more convenient for judicial and administrative purposes, more profitable, and more safe for the ruler, to have districts governed by his own officers, and in which a territorial unity shall supersede the old bonds of kinsmanship: centralization is hardly compatible with family tradition. The members of the Gá met as associated freemen, under the guidance of their own natural leaders, and formed a substantive unit or small state, which might, or might not, stand in relations of amity to similar states. The Shire was a political division, presided over by an appointed officer, forming part only of a general system, and no longer endowed with the high political rights of self-government, in their fullest extent. I can imagine the Gá, but certainly not the Shire, declaring war against a neighbour. As long as the Gá could maintain itself as a little republic, principality, or even kingdom, it might exist unscathed: but as the smaller kings were rooted out, their lands and people incorporated with larger unions, and powerful monarchies rose upon their ruins, it is natural that a system of districts should arise, based entirely upon a territorial division. Such districts, without peculiar, individual character of their own, or principle of internal cohesion, must have appeared less dangerous to usurpation than the ancient gentile aggregations. ----- Footnote 142: Ini, § 8. Thorpe, i. 106. Footnote 143: Ini, § 36. Thorpe, i. 124. Footnote 144: Ini, § 39. Thorpe, i. 126. -----