m 



1.EET. 



they hare arisen or lure bid continuance 



punUiment which foUowB of course 

 t of default or of any offence committed out 



\ by private persons. Amercements are to be mitigated in open 

 _i b* anWrers (anVrrstore*. from affcrrare or anorare. a/erer, to tax, 

 or Ax a price, hence the term affersge. used in the old French lawto 

 fair** the judicial Axing of a price upon property to be sold). The 

 itimmi by their oaths affirm the reasonableness of the sum at which 

 they have assessed the amercement. This course i* sanctioned and 

 lAanil by Magna CharU, which direct* that amercement* shall be 

 assessed by the peer* of the offender, that is, the pare* curiso, or 

 suitors of the same court [JfBV ] The amercement*, being affeered, 

 ar estreatsd (extracted) from the court roll by the steward, and levied 

 by the bailiff under a special warrant from the lord or steward for that 

 purpose, by distress and sale of the good* of the party, which may be 

 taken at any place w ithin the precinct, even in the street : or the lord 

 may maintain an action of debt for such amercement For a nuisance, 

 the jury may amerce the offender, and at the .same time. order that .he 

 be distrained to amend it 



The steward of a leet is a judge of record, and may take recognisances 

 of the psace; and he may impose a fine for a contempt or other 

 isTjiinii committed in court, as where a party obstruct* the jury in the 

 execution of their duties, or by public officers in the discharge of 

 their duties out of court The amount of the fine is at once fixed by 

 the steward, and therefore, though sometime* loosely called an .. 

 ment, it is not to be affeered. When a suitor present in court 

 refuses to be sworn, it is a contempt for which a reasonable fine may 

 be imposed ; so if the jury, or any of them, refuse to make a 

 presentment, or depart without making it, or make it before all are 

 agreed. In all matters within the cognisance of a court-leet the 

 lord or steward has the same power as the judge* in the superior 

 court*. He ha* indeed no power to award imprisonment as a punish- 

 ment for offences presented in the leet, such offences being the subject 

 of amercement only : but he may imprison persons indicted or accused 

 of felony before him, and persons guilty of a contempt in face of the 

 court 



ui common right the constable is to be chosen by the jury in the 

 leet; and if the party chosen be present, he ought to take the oath in 

 the leet ; if absent, before justices of the peace. If he refuse to accept 

 the office, or to be sworn, the steward may fine him. If the party 

 chosen be absent and refuses, the jury may present his refusal at 

 the next court, and then he is amerced. But a person chosen con- 

 stable in hi* absence ought to have notice of his election. A man- 

 damus lies to the steward of a leet to swear in a constable chosen by 

 the jury. By 13 ft 14 Car. II., cap. 12, when a constable dies or goes 

 out of the parish, any two justices may make and swear a" new one 

 until the lord shall bold a court-leet ; and if any officer continue above 

 a year in his office, the justices in their quarter-sessions may dis- 

 charge him, and put another in his place until the lord shall hold a 

 court But the justice* at sessions cannot discharge a constable 

 appointed at the leet ; and though they can appoint constables until 

 the lord shall bold a court, they cannot appoint for a year, or till 

 others b* chosen. A person chosen constable who is deficient in 

 huuastj, knowledge, or ability, may be discharged by the leet or 

 by the Court of King's Bench as unfit The steward may set a 

 reason* his fine on a constable or tithing-man refusing to make 



Though the leet hat long ceased to be the principal and ordinary 

 court of criminal jurisdiction, its power and authority have been 

 enlarged by several statutes, which give it cognisances over offences 

 newly created, and it does not appear to have been at any time directly 

 abridged by legislative interference. The business of the court has 

 chiefly been affected by the creation of concurrent jurisdictions, par- 

 ticularly that of justice* of the peace [JcsTlcis or THE PEACE], who 

 have cognisance of the same matters, a* well as of many other* over 

 which the court-leet has no jurisdiction. Justice* of the peace ore 

 always accessible, whereas the court-leet is open only at dintn . in- 

 and lor a short period, unless it be continued by adjournment, which 

 can only take place for the despatch of existing business. A 

 cans* of the declension of these tribunals is that except in a very few- 

 eases the jurisdiction of the leet is confined to offence* punishable at 

 common law. In statutes providing for the repression of new offences, 

 the leet is commonly passed over in favour of justices of the peace. 

 Blackstno* reckon* - the almost entire disuse and contempt of the 

 eourt-leet and sheriff's tourn, the king's ancient courts of common law 

 formerly much revered and respected, among the mischievous effect* 

 of the change in the administration of justice by summary proceed- 

 ings before justice* of the peace." It was not, however, left to the 

 learned omnmenlelor to make this discovery. In the course of the 

 very reign which witnessed the introduction of the modern system of 

 justices of the peace, we find the Common* remonstrating against 

 the violation of the Saxon principle of self-government and domestic 

 administration of justice, resulting from the encroachment* made 

 upon the ancient jurisdiction of the leet by giving to the new tril.unnl 

 at the justices of the pence a concurrent jurisdiction in n 

 usually brought before the court leet, and an exclusive iurisdi. 

 other important matter*. In the last year of Edward HI. (1377), the 



LEET. IT*. 



Commons, by their petition in parliament, prayed the king that no 

 justice of the peace should inquire of anything cognisable in the courts 

 of lords who had view of frank-pledge, or of anything cognisable in 

 any city or borough within their district, and should attend only to 

 the keeping of the peace and the enforcing of the statute of labourers. 

 To this petition the king returned the following unsatisfactory 

 answer : " The statutes heretofore made cannot be kept if the 

 i be granted." At this time, and until the passing ot -.7 Hen. 

 \ III., c. 24, offences in leets were alleged to be against the lord's 

 peace, not the king's. 



IV. Manner of holding the Court-leet. 



The common notice of holding the court is said to be three or four 

 days ; but it is now usual to give fifteen day*' notice. An amercement 

 at a court of which sufficient notice has not been given is void. But 

 even where there is a clear prescriptive usage to give a certain number 

 of days' notice, the resiants cannot disturb the holding of the court 

 on the ground that such notice has not been given. 



The functions of the steward of a court-leet are mostly, if not 

 wholly, judicial. Ministerial acts are to be performed by an . 

 officer culled the bedel or bailiff, who of common right is appointed by 

 the lord or steward, though by custom he may be chosen by the jury, 

 and sworn with the other officers chosen at the leet ; and w her., in a 

 leet :q. pendant to a borough, the bailiff so chosen has a 'i 

 j'ower in impannelling the jury, this important function is a sufficient 

 ground for issuing a quo warrunto to inquire into the title of the party 

 exercising it The steward, at the customary or at a resonable time 

 before the holding of the court, issues a precept under his seal, 

 addressed to the bailiff of the leet, commanding him to warn the 

 resiants to appear at the time and place appointed for holding the 

 court, and to summon a jury. The notice may be given in the church 

 or market, according to the usage of the particular place ; but it is 

 mid that if it be not an ancient leet, personal notice is necessary. 

 According to the course most usually pursued, the steward ..pens the 

 court by directing the court to be proclaimed : and this being the 

 king's court, it is necessary that three proclamations should be made. 

 This is done by the bailiffs crying 'Oyes' (hear) three times, and then 

 saying once 'All manner of persons who .1 or decimi 



do owe suit royal to this leet, come in and do your suit and answer to 

 your names upon pain and peril which shall ensue.' The baililt then 

 delivers to the steward a list of persons summoned as jurymen, t. 

 with the suit or reaiont roll. The suit-roll is then called over, and 

 those resiants who are absent are marked to be amerced. The bailiff 

 then makes three other proclamations, by crying ' Oyes' three times, 

 and then saying ' If any man will be essoigned, come in, and you shall 

 be heard.' The steward having called for the essoigns, enters them. 

 The essoigns should regularly be adjourned to the next court for 

 examination in the court roll or book. 



Suit-real must be done in person ; it cannot be done by attorney ; 

 nor can it, as it would seem, be released by the lord. But the suitor 

 may be essoigned or excused pro li&c rice, which is done generally upon 

 the payment of an erooign penny. 



The constables are next examined as to their compliance with the 

 orders received by them at the previous court. After this the leet 

 jury is formed. This jury is chosen from the body of the suitors, and 

 consists of not less than twelve, nor more than twenty-three. In some 

 leets the jury continues in office for a whole year ; in others the jurors 

 are elected and discharged in the course of the day. A cn.st in for the 

 steward to nominate to the bailiff the persons to be summoned on the 

 jury is valid. If a sufficient number of resiants to form a jury 

 be found, the steward has power to compel a stranger to serve 

 though he be merely travelling through the district, and is actually 

 riding on his journey at the time his services are required ; but a 

 woman, though a resiant, cannot be sworn. 



After the jury is chosen a foreman is named, who is sworn as 

 follows: "You shall well aud truly inquire, and true pregcn 

 make, of all such articles, matters, and things as shall be given y, .11 in 

 charge ; the king's counsel, your companions', and your own, you shall 

 keep secret and undisclosed. You shall present no man for envy, 

 hatred, or malice; nor spare any mnn for fear, favour, or affection, or 

 any h"j riling to the best of your know-led;.- 



the information you shall nvcivc, you sluill present the trutl 

 nothing but the truth." As soon as the foreman is sworn, tl 

 four of the jury, taking the book together, are sworn to observe and 

 keep, on their parts, the same oath which the foreman has taken on hi.-i 

 part The jury then receive a charge from the steward, pointing out 

 the nature of their duties, and of the matters which ought to be pre- 

 sented. The jury make their presentments to the steward, who, in 

 cases of treason or felony, must return the presentments (in these case* 

 called indictments) to the justices of gaol dclivoy if the offenders be 

 in custody ; if they be at large, the indictments must be removed into 

 i he King's Bench by certiorari, in order that process may issue thereon . 

 In all other cases the steward of the leet has power, upon the 

 complaint of .my i d by the presentment, or, on the other 



hand, M]H.n any su.-pieion entertained as to the concealment of any 

 lit. to cause an immediate inquiry into the 



truth of the matter by another jury, though in the former case the 

 morn usual course now is by certiorari or traverse. 



