36 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



that the really obligatory matter was the delivery of the 

 estreats is only one of the many proofs of the over- 

 whelming importance of the profits of justice; the ap- 

 pointments may be irregular or chaotic, but there is no 

 irregularity or chaos in the means adopted by the ex- 

 chequer to compel service from some members of the 

 commissions in each county. 



(4) Territorial districts of their jurisdiction. — The 

 ordinance was issued in the form of a letter close. The 

 copy enrolled is directed to the sheriff of Kent, with a 

 note to the efifect that similar writs had been sent to all 

 sheriffs ; ' but it has already been shown that there is no 

 authoritative evidence as to the number of districts that 

 received commissions in pursuance of these writs.^ The 

 statute clearly applied throughout England, including 

 London and all other cities and boroughs, within fran- 

 chises as well as without ; ^ but the only direct reference 

 to the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of a given set 

 of justices is the provision that the justices were to hold 

 sessions in each county."* 



An analysis of the districts that at some time during 

 the years 1 352-1 359 received commissions for labourers 

 proves that the actual practice was more complicated 

 than the scheme implied by the statute for the joint com- 

 missions. The districts may be grouped as follows:^ (i) 



• App., II. - S. I. 



*App., 17. There was considerable difficulty as to London; cf. pt. 

 1, ch. iii, s. 2, A for an account of the matter. Unwin, Industrial 

 Organization, 138, claims that Elizabeth's great codification was the 

 first instance of the application of uniform economic legislation to all 

 geographical as well as to all industrial sections of the community; but 

 cf. Cunningham, Growth of Eng. Industry, ii, introduction, for a 

 more accurate statement. 



*App., 16, ^These lists are given in app., 138-141. 



