Constable: An officer appointed in each parish to make arrests, to uphold law and order, to ensure that the land was properly maintained, and to collect rents on behalf of the Lord of the Manor. Only a small payment – if any – was made for this duty, and many people preferred not to do it. For this reason, the constable usually had some other form of employment.
In mediæval times, the office was commonly conferred upon someone who had performed important military services on the battlefield.
The accepted etymology is that the term comes from the Latin comes stabuli [count of the stable], although another source says that the name is derived from words meaning king and stability.
See
See Constablewick, PC and Tithingman
Page Ref: QQ_29
|
||
| site search by freefind |