already have held property in succession and been liable to suit through
two reigns:--

"Robert, Earl of Mellent, to Ralph, and all his barons, French and
English, of all his land in England, greeting: Know ye, that I have
granted to my merchants of Leicester their Guild Merchant, with all
customs which they held in the time of King William, of King William his
son, and now hold in the time of Henry the king.

"Witness: R., the son of Alcitil."

The object of these ancient writings was only to record the fact of
corporate existence; the popular custom by which the guilds were regulated
was taken for granted; but obviously they must have had succession, been
liable to suit, able to contract, and, in a word, to do all those acts
which were afterward set forth. And such has uniformly been the process by
which English jurisprudence has been shaped; a usage grows up that courts
recognize, and, by their decisions, establish as the common law; but
judicial decisions are inflexible, and, as they become antiquated, they
are themselves modified by legislation. Lawyers observed these customary
companies for some centuries before they learned what functions were
universal; but, with the lapse of time, the patents became more elaborate,
until at length a voluminous grant of each particular power was held
necessary to create a new corporation.

A merchants' guild, like the one of Leicester, was an association of the
townsmen for their common welfare. Every trader was then called a
merchant, and as almost every burgher lived by trade, and was also a
landowner, to the extent at least of his dwelling, it followed that the
guild practically included all free male inhabitants; the guild hall was