FRANCHISE. , FREEMAN and FREEDOM.
Taken from “An analytical dictionary of the English Language” by David Booth, 1835
A Burgh, Burrow, or Borough, was originally a place of defence, what we now call a Walled Town; although the word Town itself (as its etymo¬logy implies) was a covered place, being surrounded with walls. In times when this country was divided into many different governments,—when every feudal chieftain, in his turn, forgot his fealty and accounted himself a king,— places of strength were multiplied, and every considerable village had its walls with Ports, (barricaded Gates,) which were kept shut and guarded, to pre¬vent surprize: while those insulated heights and rocks, which presented more natural means of defence, attracted larger masses of population, and became castles, forts, or Citadels, in the interior of the Burghs, or Cities, which they defended.
The Latin civitas, (coire, to assemble,) from which the French vité, a City, is derived, denoted a collection of people. It included no idea of being a place of strength; for it often denominated a whole nation, as well as a single town; and this distinction of original meanings appears in the derivatives from City and Burgh. City is a modern word in our language, and its application has been the subject of controversy. In general usage, however, the name of City is given only to such Burghs as are, or have been, bishops' sees. Citadel is the Italian diminutive cittadella; for, in that language, citta, a town or city, is always understood to be a place of strength.
The inhabitants of our ancient Boroughs were governed by certain laws and entitled to certain privileges, different from what belonged to the wander¬ing herdsmen, or to the scattered cultivators of the soil, who were frequently liable to a change of masters; and Boroughs are yet distinguished, from other towns and villages, by the possession of those laws and privileges which have remained while their causes no longer exist. These peculiar advantages are termed the FRANCHISES, (French,/franc, free,) or rights of a Borough or Cor¬poration, or of any individual belonging to such a body. The individual is said to be ENFRANCHISED, to be made a FREEMAN of that Body,—to have acquired his FREEDOM. The Freedom of an individual member, or even the Franchise of the Borough (or other incorporated body) itself may be lost by misconduct. The individual may be struck off from the list of citizens, or the Borough may lose one or all of its privileges by an Act of the Legislature declaring it to be DISENFRANCHISED. TO AFFRANCHISE (to make free) was formerly written in place of To Enfranchise. ENFRANCHISEMENT and DISEN-FRANCHISEMENT denote the several actions, or states of the Verbs.
The most distinguishing of the privileges of a Borough is the Elective FRANCHISE, or right to elect and send Members to the Commons House of Parliament; but this right of election varies extremely among the different Boroughs. In some cases, the Elective Franchise belongs to the resident Freemen only;—in others, to the Freemen wherever they may reside. * In some places the choice of two members is committed to as many inhabitants as every house can contain;—in others, to the possession of a spot of ground where neither houses nor inhabitants have been seen for years" In many of the incorporated Boroughs (for all have not charters of incorpo¬ration) the Mayor and a few of the Burgesses chose the Representatives; and, this being supposed to be a corruption from ancient usage, such are called ROTTEN BOROUGHS ; and those who wish to procure a general suffrage of the Freemen are the advocates of BOROUGH-REFORM. Certain Boroughs wholly the property of great landholders, called, therefore, BOROUGH-PRO¬PRIETORS, and are transferable in the market like other goods and chattels. In some cases, where the Electors are few, or where the influence or patronage is almost equally divided, bribery has been exerted, to settle the doubts of the wavering concerning the comparative merits of the Candidates:—but this is not authorized by the law of the land. Boroughs, where an independent can¬didate, without influence, has no chance of success, are called Close Boroughs; the few that are otherwise are Open Boroughs. He who buys, or sells the patronage of a Borough is a Borough-monger. Burrow is an old orthography. Burgh and Borough are written indiscriminately. The freemen of an incor¬porated Borough are called Burgesses, or Burghers; a name occasionally given to their Representatives in Parliament, although these need not now be Burgesses of the town which they represent.
The Burgesses of a City are Citizens, (of which Cit is a contemptuous contraction,) and the latter term, agreeably to its Roman/origin, is often used to denote the freemen of a state in general. The rights of a Citizen constitute his Citizenship, formerly Burgher ship; and a Fellow-citizen may be either a Townsman, or a freeman of the same nation. Citizeness, for a female Citizen, is in the vocabulary of the ultra-republicans. Civism, denoting faithfulness to the commonwealth, and Incivism, its opposite, are words that were created by the French Revolution.
In a general sense, the adjective Civil is applied to everything which regards the community as Citizens; and hence the expressions, ‘Civil government;’ 'Civil rights,’ &c. as distinct from what belongs to particular divisions of policy, such as Military government, Maritime rights, &c. In the same manner, we speak of 'Civil War,’ meaning the intestine war among the Citizens, in opposition to the quarrels between separate nations. The Civil Law is the collected Institutes of the Laws which governed the Roman Gives, or Citizens; and this Code (not that of the Republic, but a Digest, collected about 1300 years ago by the Emperor Justinian) is still studied, by the Lawyers of the present day, and referred to as the foundation of the Common Law of this country. The numerous Commentators on the Roman Laws are Civilians.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Those who keep it from you are despots
