 History has proved, he argued, that "local Self-Government did exist in England and was a force to keep in check the most ambitious monarchs".This view was based in part on interpretation of medieval documents such as the Domesday Book (a survey of property in England compiled under the orders of William the Conqueror in 1086).In "The Parish", Smith describes the Domesday Book as "a record of the action of the institutions of Local Self-Government of a free people".