CINQUE' PORTS (Fr. five ports). It is said that the five maritime ports of England lying opposite to the coast of France—Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney, and Hast ings—were enfranchised in the time of Edward the confessor. But it was subsequent to thebattle of Hastings that the conqueror, in order that he might wield the resources of the seaports with greater vigor, constituted this whole line of coast into a jurisdic tion entirely separate from the counties of Kent and Sussex, and erected it into a sort of county palatine, under a warden or guardian, the seat of whose administration was in Dover Castle. The warden, whose office corresponded to that of the ancient count of the Saxon coast (comes littoris Saxonici), exercised jurisdiction, civil, military, and naval, uniting in his single person the functions of sheriff, custos rotulorum, lord-lieu tenant, and admiral. Privileges equal to those originally bestowed on the C. P. were subse quently extended to the so-called ancient towns of Winchelsca and Rye, and most of the municipal towns had subordinate ports and towns attached to them, which were called members. In place of the Saxon terms of aldermen and freemen, those of jurats and barons were introduced, and the latter term has always been applied to the representa tives of the C. I'. in parliament. The chief function performed by the C. P. in early times consisted in furnishing such shipping as was required for the purposes of the state, the crown having possessed no permanent navy previous to the reign of Henry VII. In the time of Edward I., they were bound to provide no less than 57 ships, fully
equipped and manned at their own cost; though the weight of this heavy burden was somewhat lessened by the provision, that the period of gratuitous service should be limited to 15 days. In consequence of the warlike navy which they were thus com pelled to maintain, the C. P. became so confident in their strength, and so insolent and audacious, as not only to undertake piratical expeditions, but even to make war and form confederacies as independent states. Previous to the revolution of 1688, the lord-wardens were in use to nominate the barons, or parliamentary representatives of the C. P.; but in 1689, an act was passed to "declare the right and freedom of elec tion of members to serve in parliament for the cinque ports." The reform bill of 1832 reduced the number of members sent to parliament by the C. P. from 16 to 8, and the municipal reform act has broken up the ancient organization of the ports, and assimilated their internal arrangements to those of other English municipalties. The ancient courts of Stepway, Brotherhood, and Guestliug are still occasionally held, but their powers scarcely extend beyond matters of form, such as appointing the barons, who are to exercise an ancient privilege of the ports, which consists in carry ing the canopy over the sovereign's head at a coronation. The lord-warden's juris diction, in relation to civil suits and proceedings, was abolished by 18 and 19 Vict. c. 48, amended by 20 and 21 Vict. e. 1.