374 History of the English Landed Inte^'est. 



holder, on the other hand, did not possess these adjuncts of 

 the highway, and was therefore exempt from the liability- 

 arising therefrom.* A distinction must here be made be- 

 tween a king's highway and a common way. The former may 

 be defined as a route leading from town to town, the latter as 

 a route leading from a town to lands.- Over the former the 

 leet held jurisdiction, and it was a special duty of this court 

 to examine into cases of neglect and impose the fines inflicted 

 by the statute.'^ Over the latter, on the other hand, the leet 

 had no powers, and any annoyance about a private way, even 

 if it was the only route to church, would have to be taken be- 

 fore the Assize of Nuisances.^ 



But the system of compelling everj'- parish to repair its own 

 highways was an unjust one, and the employment of gratui- 

 tous labour a hardship on the agricultural community. Take 

 for example the case of the great North Road, which traversed 

 a poor and thinly inhabited district. The six days' enforced 

 labour was wholly inadequate to keep in repair a route worn 

 by the immense traffic between London and the West Riding 

 of Yorkshire. The extra expenditure being defrayed by 

 parochial rates, raised such a clamour from the heavily 

 mulcted parishes that the outcry penetrated the precincts of 

 the Parliament House. This brought about the statute of 

 15 Car. II. c. 1, which, by introducing the system of turnpike 

 tolls, initiated a new departure in highway legislation. 



Another important duty of the leet was to see that the law 

 was properly observed regarding water rights. Here a funda- 

 mental distinction has to be made between water that ebbs 

 and flows and water that merely flows or is stagnant.^ The 

 former is considered by law an arm of the sea, and is under 

 the jurisdiction of the king as Lord of the Narrow Seas, and 

 the right to fish or boat therein is common to all. The latter 



' 8 Ed. IV. fol. 9 ; 27 Hen. VI. fol. 9; 6 Ed. III. 

 - 3 Ed. III. 



* A lord of the manor could not be comi>elled to repair bridges over 

 the highway. 2 Ed. IV. fol. 9. 



* 38 Hen. VIII. fol. 29. 



* I^BooUof AasizQ, 93. 



