in pace usque ad clausum Paschae, et interim facias duodecim liberos et legales homines de visineto videre terram illam et nomina eorum imbreviari facias et summone illos per bonos summonitores quod tunc sint coram me vel lustitiis meis parati inde facere recognitionem (xiii. 33).
In their eighth article of 1215 the barons simply asked that the assizes should be held locally four times a year; they in no way interfered with the forms of procedure.
2. Mr. Bolland's contention that a record of the action was not preserved falls to the ground. As Maitland pointed out long ago, the plea rolls of Richard and John are full of such records:
In Richard's reign and John's the new remedy had become very popular; it was doing a great work. But just because it was working well, the records of its working are uninstructive. In case after case there is no pleading at all, and the jurors answer the question put to them with almost monosyllabic brevity.[1]
3. 'Another objection to Mr. McKechnie's interpretation is that abbrevientur did not in 1215 carry anything of the meaning of the modern "abbreviate".' The word has this meaning in a document 'De Excubiis in Natale et Pascha et Pentecost, relating to London, and printed by Dr. Round in his Commune of London (1899, p. 255) from Add. MS. 14252, fo. 106. Dr. Round points out that this evidence belongs to the year 1213.
Magna custodia debet invenire xii homines sed per libitum vicecomitis abbreviata est usque ad viii homines.
Mediocris custodia debet viij vigiles, sed ita abbreviata usque sex.
Minor custodia debet sex, sed ita abbreviata usque ad iiijor.
Brother William of England
Matthew Paris has preserved in his Liber Additamentorum (MS. Cotton Nero D. i, fo. 155) a very beautiful drawing of the Apocalyptic Christ, on which is the inscription: 'Hoc opus fecit frater Willelmus de ordine minorum socius beati francisci Secundus in ordine ipso. conuersacione sanctus: nacione anglus.' The drawing has been reproduced in Collectanea Franciscana, i, of the British Society of Franciscan Studies, where the traditions
- ↑ 'The Beatitude of Seisin', Law Quarterly Review, January 1888, and in Maitland's Collected Papers, i. 414; see also Hist. of English Law (2nd edition), ii. 48. The records of the Curia Regis begin in 1194. For an early case of novel disseisin 18 November 1194, see Palgrave, Rotuli Curiae Regis (Record Commission), vol. i (1835), p. 55. A clear case of doubtful date, p. 328; but references to this and other assizes abound. Actions were frequently drawn out through the non-appearance of the recognitors.
