WITENA-GEMOT (spelled, also, wittena gemot, gewitena-gemote ; from the Saxon wits, a wise man, gemote, assembly,—tbe assembly of wise men). The king's council of wise men. There is said to be more au thority for this short form (Witan) than for Witena-Gemdt (not Witendgemot). Pollock, in 1 Sel. Essays in Anglo-Amer. L. H. 90 (14 L. Q. R. 291); Pollock, Expansion of C. L. 140; Vinagradoff (Engl. Soc. 6) gives it as witana-gernote.
It was the grand council of the kingdom, and was held, generally, in the open air, by public notice or particular summons, in or near some city or populous town. These notices or summonses were issued upon de termination by the king's select council, or the body met without notice, when the throne was vacant, to elect a new king. Subsequent ly to the Norman conquest it was called com mune conoilium regni, curia regis and finally parliament; but its character had become considerably changed. It was a court of last resort, more especially for determining dis putes between the king and his thanes, and, ultimately, from all inferior tribunals. Great offenders, particularly those who were mem bers of or might be summoned to the king's court, were here tried. The casual loss of title-deeds was supplied, and a very extensive equity jurisdiction exercised. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 73; 1 Bla. Coro. 147; 1 Reeve, Hist. Eng. Law 7; 9 Co. Pref.
The principal duties of the wltena-gemot, besides acting as a high court of judicature,' was to -elect the sovereign, assist at his cor onation, and co-operate in the enactment and administration of the laws. It made treaties jointly with the king, and aided him in di recting the military affairs of the kingdom.
Examination into the state of churches, mon asteries, their possessions, discipline, and morals, were made before this tribunal. It appointed magistrates, and regulated the coin of the kingdom. It also provided for levying upon the people all such sums as the public necessities required ; and no property of a freeman was, in fact, taxable without the consent of the gemote. Bede, lib. 2, c. 5 ; 3 Turner, Angl. Sax. 209; 1 Dugdale, Mon. 20 ; Sax. Chron. 126, 140.
The deliberations of their body had great weight; all important actions, such as law making, were done by their advice ; but they could not and did not pretend to do without the consent of the freeholders when a capital decision—such as the voting of a tax, the election of a king, the passing of a law—was in question. At first the king of the Eng lish would go around with his proposed laws to the several folk-mote, getting the separate consent of each, but in the tenth century the kings bethought them of summoning the moots of the various shires to meet them at some convenient central spot, as Oxford or London, and what this collective moot or Miloel-gemot agreed to need not be confirmed again, since men from every shire were pres ent. The Mycel-gemot was the Magnum Con ciliwm of the Normans and developed into the High Courts and Parliaments of the thir teenth century. 1 Social England 136. See Stevens, Sources of the Constitution 62.