16 SELF-SUFFICING FLEMING 



money. Eight ' Monday-men ' held cottages and curtilages 

 by labour-rent. These thirty-four tenants were all bonda- 

 gers, but they could always commute their labour services 

 at a money value, and provide substitutes. These they 

 found in one another, or in twelve tenants of cottages who 

 paid fixed rents. In 1352 all the labour-rents were com- 

 muted for money payments. In 1454 the ' dooles ' of 

 demesne land were let to five tenants who were responsible 

 for the whole rent, though in practice they seem to have 

 sublet. The customar}^ tenants had increased to twenty ; 

 the Monday-men to fifteen. The manor was self-govern- 

 ing. The tenants elected the bailiff*, the hayward, the 

 sheep-teller, who counted the stock on the commons, the 

 constables, ale-tasters, and other manorial officers. They 

 also composed the ' leet-jury,' which disposed of small 

 criminal offences, presented tavern-haunters or common 

 idlers, made bye-laws regulating the maintenance of the 

 merestones or butts, the repairs of the bridge or the 

 sewers, the brewing and selling of ale and beer. And all 

 this was done without the intervention of a lawyer or his 

 fees. 



