Our Legal Heritage Part 50

The chief pledges present that Cristina daughter of Richard Maleville has married at London without the lord's licence; therefore let the said Richard be distrained. He has made fine with 12d. Also that Alice Berde has done the same; therefore let her be distrained. Also that Robert Fountain has committed a trespa.s.s against William Gery; therefore the said Robert is in mercy; pledge, Humfrey; fine, 6d. Also that Richard Maleville has drawn blood from Stephen Gust; therefore he is in mercy; fine, 2s.

36. Geoffrey Coterel in mercy for a battery; fine, 12d.; pledge, Adam Serjeant. Geoffrey Coterel for trespa.s.s in the hay; fine, 6d.; pledge, Alan Reaper. Hugh of Senholt in mercy for trespa.s.s in the green wood; fine, 6d.

37. Hugh Wiking in mercy for delay in doing his works; fine, 6d. Hugh Churchyard for trespa.s.s in [cutting] thorns; fine, 6d. Thomas Gold in mercy for trespa.s.s in the wood; fine, 3d.; pledge, Robert Grinder.

38. William Dun in mercy for subtraction of his works due in autumn; fine, 2s. Avice Isaac for the same, 6d.; Hugh Wiking for the same, 6d.; Agnes Rede in mercy for her daughter's trespa.s.s in the corn [grain], 6d.

39. Walter Ash in mercy for not making suit to the lord's mill; fine, 6d. Hugh Pinel in mercy for diverting a watercourse to the nuisance of the neighbors; fine, 6d.; pledge, Robert Fresel.

40. John Dun in mercy for carrying off corn [grain] in the autumn; pledge, Adam White. Alan Reaper gives the lord 12d. on account of a sheep which was lost while in his custody.

41. Adam White in mercy for bad mowing; fine, 6d. Hugh Harding in mercy for the same; fine, 6d.

42. The chief pledges present that Henry Blackstone (fine, 6d.), Hugh Churchyard (fine, 18d.), Walter Ash (fine, 6d.), Henry of Locksbarow (fine, 12d.), Avice Isaac (fine, 6d.), Richard Matthew (fine, 6d.), Hugh Wiking (fine,--), Ralph Dene (fine, 6d.), John Palmer (fine, 12d.), John Coterel (fine, 6d.), John Moor (fine, 6d.), John Cubbel (fine, 12d.), Hugh Andrew (fine, 6d.), Philip Chapman (fine, 6d.), John Fellow (fine, 12d.), Robert Bailiff (fine, 6d.), Alice Squire (fine, 12d.), John Grately (fine,--), Richard Hull (fine, 6d.), Osbert Reaper (fine, 6d.), and Robert Cross (fine, 6d.), have broken the a.s.size of beer. Also that Henry of Senholt, Henry Brown, Hugh Hayward, Richard Moor, Juliana Woodward, Alice Harding, Peronel Street, Eleanor Mead make default. Also that Walter Ash (fine,--), John Wiking (fine,--), John Smart (fine,--), and Henry Coterel have married themselves without the lord's licence; therefore let them be distrained to do the will of the lord.

43. Alan Reaper for the trespa.s.s of his foal; fine, 6d.

44. Philip Chapman in mercy for refusing his gage to the lord's bailiff; fine, 3d.

45. William Ash in mercy for trespa.s.s in the growing crop; fine, 6d.

46. John Iremonger in mercy for contempt; fine, 6d.

47. The chief pledges present that William of Ripley (fine, 6d.), Walter Smith (no goods), Maud of Pasmere (fine, 6d.), have received [strangers]

contrary to the a.s.size; therefore they are in mercy.

48. Maud widow of Reginald of Challow has sufficiently proved that a certain sheep valued at 8d. is hers, and binds herself to restore it or its price in case it shall be demanded from her within year and day; pledges, John Iremonger and John Robertd; and she gives the lord 3d. for [his] custody [of it].

The Court of Hustings in London is empowered to award landlords their tenements for which rent or services are in arrears if the landlord could not distrain enough tenant possessions to cover the arrearages.

Wills are proven in the Court of Husting, the oldest court in London, which went back to the times of Edward the Confessor. One such proven will is:

"Tour (John de La) - To Robert his eldest son his capital messuage and wharf in the parish of Berchingechurch near the land called 'Berewardesland'. To Agnes his wife his house called 'Wyvelattestone', together with rents, reversions, etc. in the parish of S. Dunstan towards the Tower, for life; remainder to Stephen his son. To Peter and Edmund his sons lands and rents in the parish of All Hallows de Berhyngechurch; remainders over in default of heirs. To Agnes, wife of John le Keu, fishmonger, a house situate in the same parish of Berhyng, at a peppercorn [nominal] rent."

The Court of the Mayor of London heard diverse cases, including disputes over goods, faulty or substandard goods, adulteration, selling food unfit for human consumption, enhancing the price of goods, using unlawful weighing beams, debts, theft, distraints, forgery, tavern brawling, bullying, and gambling. Insulting or a.s.saulting a city dignitary was a very serious crime; an attack on the mayor was once capitally punished. Sacrilege, rape, and burglary were punished by death. Apart from the death penalty, the punishment meted out the most was public exposure in the pillory, with some mark of ignominy slung round the neck. If the crime was selling bad food, it was burnt under the offender's nose. If it was sour wine, the offender was drenched in it. Standing in the pillory for even one hour was very humiliating, and by the end of the day, it was known throughout the city. The offender's reputation was ruined. Some men died in the pillory of shame and distress. A variation of the pillory was being dragged through the streets on a hurdle. Prost.i.tutes were carted through the streets in coa.r.s.e rough cloth hoods, with penitential crosses in their hands.

Scolds were exposed in a "thewe" for women. In more serious cases, imprisonment for up to a year was added to the pillory. Mutilation was rare, but there are cases of men losing their right hands for rescuing prisoners. The death penalty was usually by hanging. The following four London cases pertain to customs, bad grain, surgery, and apprentices.h.i.+p, respectively.

"John le Paumer was summoned to answer Richer de Refham, Sheriff, in a plea that, whereas the defendant and his Society of Bermen [carriers] in the City were sworn not to carry any wine, by land or water, for the use of citizens or others, without the Sheriff's mark, nor lead nor cause it to be led, whereby the Sheriff might be defrauded of his customs, nevertheless he caused four casks of wine belonging to Ralph le Mazun of Westminster to be carried from the City of Westminster without the Sheriff's mark, thus defrauding the latter of his customs in contempt of the king etc. The defendant acknowledged the trespa.s.s. Judgment that he remain in the custody of the Sheriff till he satisfy the King and the Court for offense."

"Walter atte Belhaus, William atte Belhous, Robert le Barber dwelling at Ewelleshalle, John de Lewes, Gilbert le Gras, John his son, Roger le Mortimer, William Ballard atte Hole, Peter de Sheperton, John Brun and the wife of Thomas the pelterer, Stephen de Haddeham, William de Goryngg, Margery de Frydaiestrate, Mariot, who dwells in the house of William de Harwe, and William de Hendone were attached to answer for forestalling all kinds of grain and exposing it, together with putrid grain, on the pavement, for sale by the bushel, through their men and women servants; and for buying their own grain from their own servants in deception of the people. The defendants denied that they were guilty and put themselves on their country. A jury of Richard de Hockeleye and others brought in a verdict of guilty, and the defendants were committed to prison till the next Parliament."

"Peter the Surgeon acknowledged himself bound to Ralph de Mortimer, by Richard atte Hill his attorney, in the sum of 20s., payable at certain terms, the said Ralph undertaking to give Peter a letter of acquittance [release from a debt]. This Recognizance arose out of a covenant between them with regard to the effecting of a cure. Both were amerced for coming to an agreement out of Court. A precept was issued to summon all the surgeons of the City for Friday, that an inquiry might be made as to whether the above Peter was fitted to enjoy the profession of a surgeon."

"Thomas de Kydemenstre, shoemaker, was summoned to answer William de Beverlee, because he did not clothe, feed and instruct his apprentice Thomas, William's son, but drove him away. The defendant said that the apprentice lent his master's goods to others and promised to restore them or their value, but went away against his wish; and he demanded a jury. Subsequently, a jury of William de Upton and others said the apprentice lent two pairs of shoes belonging to his master and was told to restore them, but, frightened by the beating which he received, ran away; further that the master did not feed and clothe his apprentice as he ought, being unable to do so, to the apprentice's damage 40d., but that he was now in a position to look after his apprentice. Thereupon Thomas de Kydemenstre said he was willing to have the apprentice back and provide for him, and the father agreed. Judgment that the master take back the apprentice and feed and instruct him, or that he repay to the father, the money paid to the latter, and that he pay the father the 40d. and be in mercy."

A professional cla.s.s of temporal attorneys whose business it is to appear on behalf of litigants is prominent in the nation. Attorneys are now drawn from the knightly cla.s.s of landed gentlemen, instead of ecclesiastical orders. Since it was forbidden for ecclesiastics to act as advocates in the secular courts, those who left the clergy to become advocates adopted a close-fitting cap to hide their tonsures, which came to be called a "coif". The great litigation of the nation is conducted by a small group of men, as is indicated by the earliest Year Books of case decisions. They sit in court and will sometimes intervene as amicus curiae [friends of the court]. Parliament refers difficult points of law to them as well as to the justices. These reports became so authoritative that they could be cited in the courts as precedent.

Groups of attorneys from the countryside who are appearing in London courts during term-time and living in temporary lodgings start to form guild-like fellows.h.i.+ps and buy property where they dine and reside together, called the Inns of Court. They begin to think of themselves as belonging to a profession, with a feeling of responsibility for training the novices who sat in court to learn court procedures and attorney techniques. They invited these students to supper at the Inns of Court for the purpose of arguing about the day's cases. The Inns of Court evolved a scheme of legal education, which was oral and used disputations. Thus they became educational inst.i.tutions as well as clubs for practicing attorneys. The call to the bar of an Inn was in effect a degree. To be an attorney one had to be educated and certified at the Inns of Court. They practice law full time. Some are employed by the King. Justices come to be recruited from among those who had pa.s.sed their lives practicing law in court, instead of from the ecclesiastical orders. All attorneys were brought under the control of the justices.

There are two types of attorney: one attorney appears in the place of his princ.i.p.al, who does not appear. The appointment of this attorney is an unusual and a solemn thing, only to be allowed on special grounds and with the proper formalities. For instance, a poor person may not be able to afford to travel to attend the royal court in person. The other one is the pleader-attorney, who accompanies his client to court and advocates his position with his knowledge of the law and his persuasiveness.

In 1280, the city of London made regulations for the admission of both types of attorneys to practice before the civic courts, and for their due control. In 1292 the king directed the justices to provide a certain number of attorneys and apprentices to follow the court, who should have the exclusive right of practicing before it. This begins the process which will make the attorney for legal business an "officer of the court" which has appointed him.