MANORIAL COURTS 19 



and bondmen, and the money payments which were sometimes 

 accepted in lieu of labour services. Sales of timber and underwood, 

 of turf, of herbage, licences to fold on the tenant's land, or licences 

 to turn pigs into the lord's woods for beechmast or acorns, brought 

 in varying sums of money. The mill at which the tenants ground 

 their corn was his property. Whether the miller was his servant, 

 or farmed the receipts, a considerable proportion of the tolls went 

 into the landlord's purse, though the cost of repairs and upkeep 

 diminished the net profits. On some manors the oven in which 

 the bread was baked was also the property of the lord of the manor. 

 The fees and fines levied and settled by the manorial courts in the 

 course of a year were surprisingly large ; besides their administra- 

 tive work, they were at once the guardians and the interpreters of 

 the customs of the manor. The range of business administered 

 in these courts, to which the tenants, both free and bond, were 

 summoned as jurors, therefore embraced the domestic and financial 

 affairs of the manor. Here were paid the fees for peimission to 

 reside outside the manor, to send children to school, to enter minor 

 orders, to apprentice a son to a trade, or to marry a daughter. Here 

 too were imposed the fines for slovenly work at harvest, for selling 

 cattle without the lord's leave, for appropriating commons and 

 wastes, for moving a neighbour's landmark, for neglecting to repair 

 a cottage, for failing to discharge labour dues. Here too were 

 fixed the contributions of the tenantry in money or labour towards 

 the maintenance of the by-roads within the manor, and the fines 

 for neglect of the duty to keep their surfaces in repair, to provide 

 for their proper drainage, and to remove obstructions. Here also 

 crime was punished ; offenders against life or property, as well as 

 poachers, were mulcted ; wrangling scolds and tavern-hunters were 

 presented ; idlers were deprived of their holdings, and, as a last 

 resort, expelled from the manor. Here too were fixed and levied 

 the necessary contributions for the repair of the stocks, the pillory, 

 the ducking-stool, and the pound. Here the miller would be fined 

 for mixing rubbish with his flour, the baker for selling short weight, 

 the brewer who adulterated his beer, the ale-wife and tavern-keeper 

 who used false measures or mixed the drink they sold with peony 

 seed, salt or garlick, the carrier for failing to deliver goods, the 

 householder who harboured a stranger without a licence. Here 

 also were received and entered the fees of tenants for admission to 

 their holdings, and the payment of fines by sons who succeeded 



