550 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, TOOLS, ETC. 



precincts of the manor., by the action of the jury who formed the 

 view of frankpledge. In the case of the lord, the liability to 

 heavy amercement, in the event of any discovery of dishonest 

 measure, was provided for by the Statute of Coroners, and by 

 the periodical scrutiny of the justices in eyre. See, for example, 

 vol. ii. pp. 615. ii., 616. ii. Bushels and other measures which 

 had passed the scrutiny of these officials were sealed or stamped, 

 a trifling fee being exacted for the service. Thus the Horn- 

 church bailiff buys a gallon, pottle, and quart, all sealed, in 

 London (1398). Sometimes the power of taking the assize of 

 weights and measures was bestowed upon particular corpora- 

 tions. Thus in accordance with a common provision in 

 medieval procedure, there being a co-ordinate jurisdiction in 

 the University and in the City of Oxford, the assize of weights 

 and measures was conferred on the former, as representing the 

 parties most interested in the maintenance of a just standard. 



These measures are generally bushel, occasionally peck and 

 gallon. Sometimes they are made of wicker or plain wood ; 

 much more frequently they are described as iron-bound. This 

 fixing of iron rims to the margin of measures is said to have 

 been prescribed as early as the reign of Richard the First. 

 Nor have I any doubt, even when the account omits to notice 

 that the measure was iron-bound, (as, for instance, in the years 

 1280, 1363,) that the custom was complied with. 



Omitting then an Irish measure under the year 1284, the 

 average price of six bushels, iron-bound, one of which is 

 described as a standard, is a little over 8|*/. The average of 

 three similar bushels after the Plague is nearly is. 8</. Again, 

 a peck is bought in Cambridge for 8</. in 1 280, and another in 

 1343 for 3^. at Gamlingay. A gallon (described as iron-bound 

 and standard,) is purchased atHampstede in 1291 for z\d. With 

 such conveniences we may perhaps reckon a roundel, which is 

 bought at Cambridge in 1335, for the purpose of measuring, not, 

 we may judge, the corn sold to the customer, but to be used as 

 a check in the manor grange. Besides these, the roll annexed 

 to the Northumberland Itinerary quotes, among other charges, 



