THE JUSTICES OF LABOURERS 25 



powers of the justices of the peace/ gave to them juris- 

 diction over weights and measures ; "^ but, although con- 

 taining some important modifications of the existing 

 labour statutes/ it does not include the specific state- 

 ment that the justices of the peace are henceforth to be 

 responsible for their enforcement. In spite, however, of 

 the lack of a definite enacting clause, the first commis- 

 sion of the peace issued as a result of it, included the 

 power to punish labourers etc., offending against this 

 new labour legislation/ The commissions of the peace 

 during the years immediately following varied in form, 

 sometimes — but not always — including the authority to 

 deal with the earlier labour statutes also.^ Finally after 

 two petitions in parliament,^ the statute of 1368 settled 

 the matter definitely and brought all the labour statutes 

 permanently within the jurisdiction of the justices of the 

 peace.7 There is, however, an obstinate persistence of 



^Statutes, 34 Edw. Ill, cc. i, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11, 1360-1361; usually 

 cited as 34 Edw. Ill, 1360. The heading on the Statute Roll, m. 10, 

 is " Statutum factum in parliamento tento . . . anno xxxiiii*";" but 

 since the session lasted from 24 Jan. to 18 Feb. 1361 (Parry, Parlia- 

 tnefits, Ivi and 127) it is only for one day that it can be described as tak- 

 ing place in the thirty-fourth year. The first commission issued after 

 this statute is on the Patent Rolls of the thirty-fifth year, dated 20 

 March (pt. 2, m. 33 d.j and contains a reference to the statute made 

 "in our last parliament." The actions in the De Banco Rolls based 

 on clauses of this same statute always refer to it as 35 Edw. Ill, e. g., 

 46, Trin., Camb., 361, or 40. Pasch., York, 96 d. 



-Cc. 5 and 6. '*Cc. 9, 10 and n. 



^Referred to supra, note i; it is headed " De pace conseruanda." 

 Cf. Lan-.bard op. ciL, 39 and my article in E. H. R., 526. 



"See my article, 526-527. '^ Rot. Pari., ii, 286 b: 296 a. 



'Statutes, 42 Edw. Ill, c. 6. It is worthy of note that the scheme 

 had been put into practice even before the first recorded petition of the 

 commons. The increase in the powers of the justices of the peace 

 secured in the early years of Richard II did not afifect their relation to 

 the statutes of labourers: Rot. Pari., iii, 83-85; Beard, Justice of the 

 Peace, 48. 



