sive to appellants were used, and it appears likewise that arbitration (theoretically 
not appealable) was fostered. In 1283 Philip 111 made certain concessions 
with respect to penalties upon the English King and allowed a short period 
for the local correction of complaints. 148 Nevertheless, the situation was 
constantly irritating, and finally, in 1298, when the issues between Philip the 
Fair and Edward were submitted to the arbitration of Pope Boniface, the lawminded 
English king came forward with the ingenious theory that his title 
to the Gascon dominions was allodial in nature. 149 This did not avail him, 
for in the final peace it was agreed that he should do homage. 150 
It will be convenient at this point to notice the subsequent fate of the Gascon 
appeals. The problem continued to trouble Edward's successors; indeed, it is 
said to have been one of the motives which led his grandson to lay claim to the 
French crown. In any event, from 1340 onward appeals came to be forwarded 
to the King of England and his Council. 151 The appellate authority of France 
was terminated by the Treaty of Bretigny (1360), by which full sovereign 
rights over Gascony were conceded. 102 After the Black Prince had been given 
the whole of Gascony and Aquitaine as a principality, the King of England 
retained the right of hearing appeals until 1365, when the Prince was specially 
commissioned to exercise final determination. 153 A Curia superioritatis was 
created in 1370 as a court of final resort, 154 but it should be observed 
that Edward 111, like his French predecessors in title, did not regard his 
feudal rights as extinguished and on occasion took cognizance of certain 
appeals. 155 
The final settlement of the Gascon appeals problem was one largely forced 
by events, although there is earlier and later evidence to indicate decentralizing 
tendencies at work. The earlier evidence relates to Ireland and consists of 
a royal mandate directing the hearing of appeals in the Irish Parliament. 156 
It seems probable that jurisdiction of King's Bench in error was to be supplanted, 
but if this was the intention it did not so eventuate. The later evidence 
relates to Calais. Here the inhabitants complained in Parliament that judgments 
there should be corrected by persons who knew the law of the place. 157 
148 Langlois, he Regne de Philippe 111 le hardi 
(1887), 282. 
149 Rothwell, Edward I's Case against Philip 
the Fair over Gascony, in 42 EHR 572; 
Chaplais, English Arguments concerning the 
Feudal Status of Aquitaine, in 21 Bulletin Institute 
Historical Research, 203. 
150 2 Rymer, Foedera, 923. 
161 Lodge, England and Gascony, 1152-1453 
(6 History) 136 n. 1. 
152 6 Rymer, Foedera, 465. 
153 j Rymer, Foedera, pt. ii (Rolls ed.), 893. 
154 Lodge, op. at., supra n. 151, 138. 
155 Ibid., 136 n. 6. Cf. also the commission of 
August 22, 1389 (7 Rymer, Foedera, 462); the 
special appeals commission of Jan. 17, 1390 
(ibid., 653); of July 10, 1414 (9 ibid., 152); 
of March 8, 1427 (10 ibid., 389). 
150 1 Berry, Statutes, Ordinances and Acts of 
Parliament of Ireland, 406 (1355). 
157 An appeal had been taken to Council and 
commissioners had been assigned to terminate 
the cause (3 Rot. Pari., 67b). The petition 
complaining of this was referred.