Henry VIII. also passed another statute in the 34th year of his reign, chapter 26, by which the statute al ready mentioned was confirmed, and farther regulations added: by this statute, some peculiar privileges were granted to the Welsh, particularly that there should be courts within the principality itself, independent of the process of Westminster Hall. But this statute claims our attention, at present, in a more direct and especial manner, as being that which gave to the counties of Wales, and to the adjoining counties of England, the names and extent which they still retain. By this act the marches, or intermediate lands between Eng land and Wales, were divided into new counties, or annexed to old counties. The new counties that were now formed, were Monmouth, which was declared an English county, Brecknockshire, Denbighshire, Mont gomeryshire, and Radnorshire in Wales. The English counties that were augmented by annexation, were Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire. The Welsh counties which were augmented, were Cardigan shire, Caermarthenshire, Glamorganshirc, Merioneth shire, and Pembrokeshire.
The next inferior division of the territory of England is into trethings, trithings, or tridings ; lathes, and rapes. Trething, ti ithing, or triding, is an appellation evidently derived from the circumstance, that the coun ty to which it is applied is divided into three parts ; this appellation is now corrupted into riding, and oc curs only in Yorkshire. The terms lathes and rapes are not of such evident and certain etymology or mean ing; though there can be no doubt, that though not exactly synonymous with trithings, or the third part of a county, they signify a larger division of it than hundreds. Kent is the only county which is divided into lathes; and Sussex the only one that is divided into rapes. It does not appear that any appropriate officer under the sheriff was appointed to either of these divisions: the trithings, however, were anciently' go cerned by a trithing-reeve. A large division, some thing similar to trithings, rapes, or lathes, exists in the county of Lincoln: this county is divided into three districts, each of which, like the large divisions of Yorkshire, Kent, and Sussex, contains several hun i dreds. Perhaps, also, the shires, which are found in some of the northern counties, though now merely no minal, were originally larger divisions of a similar nature ; such as Hallamshire, which comprehends the district round Sheffield; Itichmondshire in the north ri ding, and Houdenshire, in the east riding of 1 orkshire; Hexamshire and Bamboroughshire in Northumberland; and Norhamshire and Islandshire, which comprehend those parts of the county of Durham that are separated by Northumberland from the body of that county. Parts
of several other counties, as well as Durham, lie detach ed ; this is very remarkably the case with Worcestershire.
The next inferior division is that of hundreds. The institution of this division seems rather to have been in troduced into England than invented in it ; and there is reason to believe, that the Saxons, in the southern part of the island, first introduced it, though this institution, like all the rest, which related to the due administration of justice, has generally been ascribed to Alfred.
It is uncertain, whether the appellation of hundreds was given to these divisions, because they contained a hundred persons; a hundred heads of families ; or, as some suppose, a hundred farms ; it is, however, most probable, that each hundred contained one hundred heads of families, of freemen. That the hundreds were regu lated by population, is evident from the great number of hundreds in those counties that were first peopled by the Saxons, or which, from their local situation, were least exposed to the devastation of war, or from their natural fertility, were most likely to attract, and most capable of supporting a great number of inhabitants; while, on the contrary, those counties, which were gained by the Sax ons at a later period, which were held by them on a pre carious tenure, and continually liable to invasion, or which were naturally barren and uninviting, contain com paratively very few hundreds. Thus, in Kent and Sus sex, according to Domesday book, there were, at the pe riod when that survey took place, respectively 62, and 64 hundreds, the same number which they contain at present; Norfolk, though in size only about the fifth county in the kingdom, contains 660 parishes; a greater number than any other county ; and 33 hundreds. Suf folk contains 575 parishes ; and Essex 415 parishes; whereas in Lancashire there are only six hundreds ; in Cheshire seven; in Cornwall nine ; in Northumberland seven divisions, which correspond to hundreds ; and in Cumberland five. In some counties there are hundreds that do not exceed a square mile in area, nor contain more than 1000 persons; the hundreds of Lancashire, on the contrary, average 300 square miles; and the popula tion in one of them, Salford hundred, is above 250,000.
Iu order to remedy the inconvenience resulting from this circumstance, in the reign of Henry VIII. the small hundreds were united, to form divisions, limits, or cir cuits, while the larger hundreds were partitioned into smaller portions.