text:  Hence, it was the germinal idea of the Anglo-Saxon polity. Unquote. Local self-government. And over the centuries, more and more decision-making power gravitated to the central government in the form of the king in England. You know what happened next, right? The crown deprived the body of the people of this power of local rule, vested it in a small number of persons in each locality, according to Fratham.