THE JUSTICES OF LABOURERS n 



issued for the enforcement of the ordinance on 20 Octo- 

 ber for Lancaster,' and on 12 and 18 November for 

 Lindsey and Suffolk respectively;" while from sources 

 other than the Patent Rolls there is evidence that for this 

 same year justices were executing the ordinance in Dor- 

 set,3 Essex/ Northampton' and Surrey,^ and in Lindsey^ 

 even previous to November, 1350. In the case of both 

 Dorset* and Lindsey ' the Patent Rolls show that these 

 same men were already acting as keepers of the peace. 

 There is, therefore, a total of sixteen commissions,'" nine 



'"De inquirendo de malefactoribus in comitatu Lancastrie;" app., 

 34. Henry of Lancaster received palatine rights on 6 March, 1351; 

 R. D. K., XXX, V. During the rest of the decade therefore commis- 

 sions were issued by him instead of by the king; cf. p. 16, infra. 



*"De operariis castigandis;" app., 34. Although this document 

 was printed by Rymer. the only reference to it that I have found in 

 modern writers is in Creighton, Hist, of Epidemics, i, 182: "The same 

 ordinance {i. e., 23 Edw. Ill), with some added paragraphs, was re- 

 issued on the i8th November, 1350, to the county of Suflfolk and to the 

 district of Lindsey (Lincolshire)." The text shows that the document 

 is a commission to justices, not a re-issue of the ordinance. 



^Mem. L. T. R., 31, Hill., Recorda, rot. 9, Somerset' Dorset', " De 

 vicecomite commisso prisone quia supersedit levacioni debitorum Regis;' ' 

 a reference to " Roberto fitz Pavn et lohanne de Munden et sociis suis 

 custodibus pacis et ad excessus operariorum Regis in comitatu Dorset' 

 anno xxiiii'"." 



*App.,D, I. 



^Orig., 24, m. 33, 12 June, " De compellendo stipendarios soluere 

 excessiua per ipsos recepta subtaxatoribus;" Walter de Mauny and his 

 companions are referred to as having power to enforce the ordinance; 

 the wording indicates powers for the preservation of the peace also. On 

 the same roll there is a similar reference to William de Thorp and his 

 companions as acting in Leicester. 



* App., 248-249. 'App., 242-243, 



-Pat., 23, pt. 2, m. 27 d, I July; Cal., viii, 382, 



"App., 243, note I. 



'"The commission for the several divisions of Durham is counted as 

 only one. 



