MILITIA (Lat. miles, a soldier) has now the acquired meaning of the domestic force for the defense of a nation, as distinguished from the regular army, which can be employed at home or abroad in either aggressive or defensive operations. Every nation has a reserve, under its law military, upon which its defense would fall, on the discom fiture of the rea-ular army; but the system differs in each country, and, with the excep tion perhaps ofbthe United States during peace, none are formed on the model of the British militia.
The militia is a constitutional force raised under the sanction of parliament, in which the people—iu theory, at least—wage their own bodies for the defense of their own soil, and in which they depute the sole leadership and command to the sovereign and the crown nominees. Organized by counties and cities, it is essentially a local force: the selection of candidates for first commissions by the lord-lieut. of the county connects it with the land, while the command of the sovereign effectually combines in it the interests of the three estates. Under the Anglo-Saxons all men were required to bear arms, as a sort of body-rent for the land they held; but DO special organization being adopted, efficiency was rarely attained in the use of arms. This the nation found to its cost when the Danes overran it &sling Alfred's reign. That great king, to prevent a similar occur rence, established the militia or fyrd, making land the basis of numbers, but the family system that of discipline: so many families were a tythiug, ten tythings a hundred, and hundreds were united into county powers, each under its heretoch, dux, or duke. Each section of the community had not only to furnish its quota in time of war, but also to provide arms, keep them in repair. and to undergo so many days' training every year. This arrangement subsisted in more or less vigor until the conquest; the. the feudal troops at first rendered the militia unnecessary; but it never ceased whdlly to exist. When the crown began to contend with the Norman barons, it naturally found its most powerful instrument in reviving the Saxon militia, and the English yeomanry became thenceforth the fear of England's enemies, and a guarantee for the gradual enfranchise ment of the people. Henry II. established an assize of aims," at which every holder of land was bound to produce one or more men fully equipped, and capable of fighting in the national defense. The arms were annually inspected, and it IVDS illegal to sell, lend,
or pawn them. This annual assembly of the fyrd or militia is first recorded after the con quest in 1181; by the statute of Winchester in 1285 Edward I. revised the scale of arms for the several ranks, Further alterations to suit the advances in the art of war took place in 1558 (4 and 5 Ph. and 31. c. 2). In 1604 James I. (1 Jac. e. 23) abolished the fyrd, and substituted " trained (commonly called train) bands," to the number of 160,000 men —a force partaking of the nature of militia and volunteers, but deficient in discipline and drill. During the civil war of Charles I. the train bands or militia mostly sided readily with the parliament. Up to this time the command had never by any law been definitely assigned to the crown or to any other body. After the restoration, the loyal parliament of Charles II. immediately reorganized the militia—essentially on its present footing—and declared as law that " the sole supreme government, command, and dis position of the militia is, and by the laws of England ever was, the undoubted right of his majesty and his royal predecessors." As, however, the crown from this time began to depend for its support upon a mercanary army, and as the local status of the militia officers must always render the militia a force dependent on parliamentary influence and ties, the militia was much neglected until 1757, when a large portion of the regular army being absent in the seven years' war, it was carefully organized for the defense of the king. dom. Several militia acts have been subsequently passed, but rather svith a view to con solidating the militia laws of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and to effect minor changes necessary for the growth of the institution, than to remodel in any essential degree the constitution of the force. The acts under which the militia is now organized are the 42 Geo. III. c. 90 and 91; 49 Geo. III. c. 120; 15 and 16 Viet. c. 50; 17 and 18 Viet. c. 13, 105 and 106; 18 and 19 Viet. c. 57, 100, and 106; and 38 and 39 'Viet. e. 69, consolidating previous acts. The present law stands thus: The sovereign appoints lords-lient. of counties, whO nominate to first commissions in their county rep ments. The general commanding in the military district commands the militia force through the colonels of the sub-districts in which the regiments respectively are.