Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 2, Page 330

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Volume 2, Page 330

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[001] to the gravity of the offence, according as it is great or small, and excepting his contenement;
[002] a merchant excepting his merchandise; a villein excepting his wainage.
[003] And it is to be done by the assessment of trustworthy men of the neighbourhood,⁶
[004] who shall be put on oath together with the serjeant. ⁷Earls and barons are not to
[005] be amerced save by their peers and according to the gravity of the offence;⁸ the
[006] assessment to be made by the barons of the exchequer or before the king himself.
[007] ⁹A clerk shall be amerced not in terms of his ecclesiastical benefice but of his lay
[008] fee and according to the gravity of the offence.¹⁰ And the amercers shall swear an
[009] oath that they will do this faithfully and will harass no one through hatred nor
[010] benefit him through affection and that they will keep secret the things they hear.]¹¹
[011] Of young men and maidens who are and ought to be in the king's wardship: who
[012] they are, who have them and through whom, and how much their lands are worth.
[013] Of ladies who are and ought to be in the king's gift: whether they are married or
[014] not, and if they are married, to whom and by whom, and how much their lands
[015] are worth. Of churches in the king's gift: which churches they are, who hold them
[016] and by whom they were presented. Of the king's escheats: which they are and who
[017] hold them, [by whose grant] and by what service, having regard to the lands of
[018] the Normans as well as other lands, and whether they are held without warrant.
[019] Of the king's serjeanties: which they are and who hold them, by whose grant and
[020] what kind of serjeanties they are, and how much they are worth. Of purprestures
[021] made against the king, whether on land or in the sea or in fresh water, whether
[022] within a liberty or without or elsewhere, no matter where. Of measures established
[023] and sworn throughout the realm: whether they have been adhered to as ordained,
[024] and whether the keepers of measures have taken a bribe from anyone that he may
[025] buy by one set of measures and sell by another, which is to be understood of all
[026] measures, by ell as by weight, and whether the assise concerning the measurement
[027] of cloth has been kept as ordained, and whether anyone has taken money to allow
[028] cloth to be sold contrary to the assise. Of wines sold contrary to the assise and who
[029] has sold them. Of those who take money from those who have given lodging to
[030] strangers contrary to the assise made thereon in the past year.¹² Of sheriffs and
[031] other bailiffs of the lord king who held pleas of the crown: what pleas they held, and
[032] [of those] who convene the hundred or wapentake courts in order to inquire as to
[033] homicide or other pleas of the crown, [and then] take amercements for not answering
[034] the summons or for not raising the hue or for not pursuing it.¹³ Of deceased christian
[035] usurers: who they were, and what chattels they had, and

Notes

7-8. Ibid., ca. 21; ibid., ca. 14

9-10. Ibid., ca. 22; ibid., ca. 14

11. Miscellaneous observations; no detailed commentary contemplated: cf. Richardson in Traditio, vi, 92, 97-8

12. The assise of 1236 (Cal. Cl. Rolls 1234-37, 362): ‘Facias etiam clamari per totam balliam tuam ... quod nullus sit tam audax quod aliquem extraneum hospitetur nisi veniat de die, et si de die venerit, non permittat eum recedere a domo sua ante diem, set de die veniant et de die recedant.’ But see Wiltshire Crown Pleas, 29, that the clause reflects the assise of 20 May 1242 (which does not mention guests); Maitland, Select Pleas of the Crown, xxii, n. and Richardson in Traditio, vi, 79, that it reflects an assise of 1253. It is the last that seems to be referred to infra 387.

13. In use in 1235: Wiltshire Crown Pleas, 29; cf. Traditio, vi, 80