Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/207

 1920 BARONY AND THANAQE 199 courts instead of jurisdictions ; the others sank to the level of hallmoots, retaining only the name of Court Baron as a relic of their former glory.^ At the same time as the ' court baron ' lost in esteem, the ' baron ' gained. For ' baron ', first losing all tradition of office, became a mere name of dignity reserved for those barons whom the king chose to summon to parliament by special writ, and then, losing all connexion with the tenure of land, became a mere title which the king could bestow by letters patent. Thus tenure by barony, having lost all importance, lost all meaning, and at last passed quite out of mind. R. R. Reid. of manors which had free tenants, those of manors which had none being distinguished as customary courts.
 * Apparently the name was afterwards extended by the lawyers to the hallmoots