THE JUSTICES OF LABOURERS 



35 



office of justice of the peace and of labourers, it had not 

 become apparent how onerous the service might be; it 

 is also to be remembered that the salaries paid were 

 some compensation. There is still another point to be 

 considered ; were all the men named on a given commis- 

 sion forced to do actual work? Both for the large joint 

 commissions as well as for the smaller separate commis- 

 sions for labourers, the writs for wages answer this 

 question in the negative, payment being made only to 

 those justices who held the sessions.' Evidence from 

 other sources confirms the truth of this statement. In 

 actions against the justices brought by the exchequer 

 to secure the delivery of the estreats, it is clear that a 

 given justice may excuse himself on the plea of never 

 having received his letter patent or of not having taken 

 part in the session, and that he is fairly sure of being 

 sine die, provided that the exchequer can obtain the 

 estreats from some one of his associates.^ On the other 

 hand, it appears from a Northumberland case previous to 

 the one already quoted that service was compulsory, — 

 barring some valid excuse which must be made good in 

 court. In this instance the justices explained that the 

 whole community had earnestly begged them not to exe- 

 cute their commission, since the enforcement of the statutes 

 of labourers against those rascally Scots, the only labour- 

 ers left in the county, would drive the latter in despera- 

 tion to acts of violence ; after some consultation on the 

 part of the court it is decided that the excuse of the 

 justices be accepted. ^ On what principle it was deter- 

 mined by a given group of men named in a commission 

 who were to act and who not, I do not know,* but the fact 



^S. 6. ^See pt. I, ch. iii, s. 2, A. 'App., D, 5. 



* My impression is that the first named on the list, " capitalis iusti- 

 ciarius " might have greater difficulty than his companions in avoiding 

 service; cf. pt. i, ch. ii, s. i. 



