BURGHBOTE, in Old Laws, signifies contribution towards the building or repairing of castles or walls, for the defence of a borough or city. By a law of King Athelstan, the castles and walls of towns were to be repaired, and burghbote levied every year. No person was exempt from this service, and even the king could not exempt a man from burghbote; yet in after-times exemptions appear to have been frequently granted, inasmuch that the word burghbote came to denote, not the service, but the exemption from it.