bly and of the king; the executive belonged to the king alone, while the judicial was independent of him.
The expenses of the government and the court were defrayed from the income of the crown estates; and when this did not suffice, the Assembly voted taxes, which, therefore, came at irregular intervals. In the earlier stages of the country’s growth, the Assembly consisted of all and any free citizens that chose to come; but when it reached the dignity of being called a State Diet, it was restricted to a few of the privileged classes. These were known as the States, and consisted of the nobility, the clergy, and the knights. Premysl Ottokar I added to this the fourth estate; viz., the citizens—inhabitants of royal cities.
At first there was no difference in the laws for the large land-owners—or noblemen, as they were called—and the small land-owners, or sedlacy; but in the course of time the nobility became a privileged class, and the rights of the poor people were continually encroached upon until they were reduced to servitude. This servitude meant several days of labor in the week for the lord, and many other tasks that, at times, were very grievous.
The nobility, in consideration of doing military service, were exempt from taxation, which, for that reason, fell all the more heavily upon the common people.
The conquest of territory was an affair of the crown, carried on at the expense of the king, or by the aid of such noblemen as willingly gave him their assistance.
The power of the government was limited by two outside forces, that of the German emperor and the
