The main body of the English people did not originate in Britain, but
in Northwestern Germany. The Jutes, Saxons, and Angles were
independent, kindred tribes living on the banks of the Elbe and its
vicinity.
They had no written laws, but obeyed time-honored customs which had
all the force of laws. All matters of public importance were decided
by each tribe at meetings held in the open air. There every freeman
had an equal voice in the decision. There the people chose their
rulers and military leaders; they discussed questions of peace and
war; finally, acting as a high court of justice, they tried criminals
and settled disputes about property.
In these rude methods we see the beginning of the English
Constitution. Its growth has been the slow work of centuries, but the
great principles underlying it have never changed. At every stage of
their progress the English people and their descendants throughout the
globe have claimed the right of self-government; and, if we except the
period of the Norman Conquest, whenever that right has been
persistently withheld or denied, the people have risen in arms and
regained it.