1 8 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



Specified in the writs.' It seems probable, however, that 

 some differentiation of the work soon arose ; in the next 

 series of writs for wages, issued at a date when the joint 

 commissions were everywhere in force, the men on the 

 pay roll, comprising as before, only a small proportion 

 of the whole commission, are now described as assigned 

 merely to execute the statutes of labourers.^ The ex- 

 planation of the change may possibly be found in the 

 application to the subsidy of January, 1352, of the money 

 penalties under the statutes of labourers. The full dis- 

 cussion of this experiment in taxation is reserved for a 

 later section ;3 here it is to the point to note that, since 

 the scheme necessitated the separation of the estreats 

 of the penalties under the statutes of labourers from 

 those for the infringement of the peace, and also put ad- 

 ditional pressure of work on the justices who were re- 

 sponsible for the statutes, recourse to a division of 

 duties and to separate sessions may easily have seemed 

 advisable.'* Dissatisfaction with existing conditions is 



^Claus., 25, m. 16; 12 July: " De vadiis pro iusticiariis assignatis 

 soluendis." Cal., ix, 314-317. 



"App., D, 2, contains an example of an original writ to de Meignill in 

 Derby and also his receipt for payment. There are similar writs to 

 two of his colleagues while the commission for this county includes 

 eleven names; Pat., 25, pt. i, m. 14 d; 15 March. Ibid., m. 13 d; 15 

 July and 20 July. 



A full list of such writs are enrolled Claus., 26, m. 16; i May: " De 

 vadiis soluendis iusticiariis ad inquirendum de operariis assignatis." 

 With a slightly different form of writ, — " Aliter de huiusmodi vadiis 

 soluendis" — the list is continued on the same membrane under the date 

 of 20 June. These lists are summarized in Cal., ix, 436-437 and printed 

 in part in Rot. Pari., ii, 455 a and b. Nearly all the justices named 

 appear on the joint commissions of the 25th year; app., 34. For this 

 whole subject, cf. pt. i, ch. iii, s. i, B, a. 



*Pt. I, ch. iii, s. I, B. 



*It is possible that the estreats of penalties " coram lohanne de Bern- 



