MILITARY STATE, in British polity, is one of the three divisions of the laity. This state includes the whole of the soldiery, or such persons as are peculiarly appointed for the safeguard and defence of the realm.
In the time of the Anglo-Saxons, the military force of England was in the hands of the dukes or heretochs, who were constituted throughout every province and county in the kingdom, being taken from the principal nobility, and such as were most remarkable for being sapientes, fideles, et animosi. Their duty was to conduct and regulate the English armies with unlimited power, prout eis visum fuerit, ad honorem coronæ et ad utilitatem regni. And because of this great power, they were elected by the people in full assembly, that is, by folk-mote, in the same manner as sheriffs were elected; according to the fundamental maxim of the Saxon constitution, that where any officer was to be intrusted with such power as, if abused, might tend to the oppression of the people, that power should be delegated to him by the vote of the people themselves. The ancient Germans, the ancestors of our Saxon forefathers, had also their dukes, as well as kings; with an independent power over the military, as the kings had over the civil state. The dukes were elective, the kings hereditary; reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt. In constituting their kings, the family or blood royal was regarded; in choosing their dukes or leaders, they had respect to warlike merit alone. Cæsar relates of their ancestors in his time, that whenever they went to war, either offensively or defensively, they elected leaders to command them. This large share of power, thus conferred by the people, though intended to preserve the liberty of the subject, was perhaps unreasonably detrimental to the prerogative of the crown. Accordingly we find that, in the reign of King Edmund Ironside, a very bad use was made of it by Edric, duke of Mercia, who, by his office of duke or heretoch, was entitled to a large command in the king's army, and by his repeated treachery at last transferred the crown to Canute the Dane.
It seems to be universally agreed by all historians, that Alfred first settled a national militia in this kingdom, and by his prudent discipline made all the subjects of his dominions soldiers. But we are unfortunately left in the dark as to the particulars of this celebrated regulation; although, from what has been observed, the dukes seem to have been left in possession of a power so large and independent that, on the death of Edward the Confessor, it enabled Duke Harold, though a stranger to the blood royal, to ascend the throne of this kingdom, in prejudice of Edgar Etheling, the rightful heir.
Upon the Norman conquest, the feudal law, in all its rigour, was introduced into this country, the whole of that system being built on a military plan. Hence all the lands in the kingdom were divided into what were called knights' fees, in number above sixty thousand; and for every knight's fee, a knight or soldier, miles, was bound
Military Law. to attend the king in his wars for forty days annually; in which time, before war was reduced to a science, the campaign was generally finished, and a kingdom either conquered or victorious. By this means the king had, without any expense, an army of sixty thousand men always ready at his command. Accordingly we find one amongst the laws of William the Conqueror, which commands and enjoins the personal attendance of all knights and others, quod habeant et teneant se semper in armis et equis, ut decet et oportet; et quod semper sint prompti et parati ad servitium suum integrum nobis expleendum et peragendum, cum opus adjuverit, secundum quod debent de feodis et tenementis suis de jure nobis facere. This personal service in process of time degenerated into pecuniary commutations or aids; and at last the military part of the feudal system was at the Restoration abolished, by statute 12 Car. II. c. 24.