Each hundred assembled a court once a month at which criminal matters and private disputes were settled by common law. The courts were generally held in the open air at a time and place widely known and, initially, all inhabitants of the hundred were expected to attend. Later, however, attendace was restricted to tenants of specific land. Normally those attending would act as judges but twice a year a sheriff visited each hundred.
By the 19th century, the reasons for maintaining the hundred boundaries had disappeared.