170 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



tions regarding Extents in Aid, 

 wliich haA'e been presented to 

 the House in this Session of 

 Pailianient.wcre referred j have, 

 . pursuant to the order of the 

 House, examined the matters to 

 them referied, and have agreed 

 to the following report: — 

 In the execution of their duty, 

 your committee, ad veiling to the 

 specific terms of their appoint- 

 ment, have considered it as direct- 

 ing their attention not so much to 

 speculative or historical intpiiries, 

 as to points more immediately 

 practical; they have therefore re- 

 frained from going more at large 

 into the origin and history of ex- 

 tents in aid tlian seemed necessary 

 to the elucidation of the subject; 

 and tliey have the more Avillingly 

 adopted this course, because these 

 writs having commenced in the 

 early ages of our monarchy, wlien 

 the frame of society differed so 

 widely, in almost every point, 

 from that state of things which we 

 now witness. liowe\er interest- 

 ing such an iiupiiiy might be as a 

 subject of antiijuarian research, it 

 could not be expected to afford 

 much practical instruction. Thoy 

 might perhaps even suggest, that 

 the very antiquity, wliich in some 

 cases might l)e reganled as a sanc- 

 tion to legal proceedings, would 

 be more likely in the present in- 

 stance, if held up as a precedent, 

 or proposed as an example, to de- 

 lude and mislead. 



When our monarchs, in the 

 days of the Edwards aiul Henrys, 

 depended for the success of tlieir 

 ex])LMiitions on t!>e pi"odiice of the 

 estates of the er!)wn, of scutages 

 on knights' fees, and other feudal 

 services performed or commuted, 

 pr of duties let out to farm, and a 



thousand occasional exactions, in 

 which neither justice nor ihe con- 

 venience of the subject were nnich 

 regarded, it will not appear sur- 

 prising if the sheriffs, or other 

 aibitjary collectors of such reve- 

 nues, were vested with very sum- 

 mary powers ; especially as the 

 king himself was, in reality as 

 well as in theory, too mucli en- 

 gaged about the " ardua regni" to 

 pay tlie necessary attention to his 

 treasury ; and matters of finance 

 were nottlien systematized as now, 

 and placed under the management 

 of public officers assembled in 

 boards, v.'hose ordy business is to 

 superintend the dilTerent depart- 

 ments, so as to ensure just, re- 

 gular, and efficient collection. 

 There seems also reason to appre- 

 hend tliat tlie slieiiffs were some- 

 times compelled to undertake this 

 tiisk, and made in some degree 

 responsible foi' its execution ; but 

 the officer, his duties, and his 

 powers, were known. His most 

 frequent debtors seem also to have 

 been the persons he was obliged to 

 employ in the teuiporaiy custody 

 or transmission of his receipts, 

 who, if they became defaulters, 

 had probably been either )iegligent 

 or criminal ; and of whom, there- 

 foie, there was some colour for 

 seeking the repayment of the 

 king's monies with despatch and 

 e^'en rigoiu'. In those times, too, 

 little nati(Ui;d incosivenience, com- 

 paratively, could arise fiom such 

 proceedings; commerce, so far 

 from forming, as in the })resent 

 (lay, a main pillar of our national 

 strengtii and prosperity, being 

 then unimportant. 



Even in 1433, during the me- 

 morable I'eign of Henry V., as 

 appears from the records of Par- 

 liament, 



