THE JUSTICES OF LABOURERS 45 



justices of labourers as distinct from those of the keepers 

 of the peace until, in 1357, the confirmation by statute of 

 certain claims made by the lords of franchises to the 

 penalties resulting from the labour legislation included 

 a provision that they should, out of their quota of these 

 penalties, contribute a share to the salaries of the justices 

 of labourers.' Assuredly, however, there was no need of 

 complaints from the commons or from the justices 

 themselves ; a study of the whole subject of penalties, 

 based on chancery enrollments and exchequer documents, 

 shows that if the sessions were duly held and if any 

 penalties were levied at all, the justices were fairly cer- 

 tain, during this first decade, to receive their recom- 

 pense/ 



During the running of the subsidy of 1352, when the 

 payment of the justices' salaries was made through the 

 agency of the collectors instead of the sherififs, there is 

 evidence that in some cases the instructions of the second 

 petition of 1352 were followed, and that the rate was deter- 

 mined by a joint committee of the collectors and the 

 lawful men of the county, the letters close merely order- 

 ing ** reasonable wages ; ^ but normally the writs of the 

 great seal specify a definite rate per day or per year, to 

 be paid to a given justice only for those days during 



' See pt. I, ch, iii, s. 2, B, and app., 18. 



" Later, there must have been some diminution in the regularity of 

 payment to the justices now acting on joint commissions; cf. e. g.. Rot. 

 Pari., ii, 271b: " Item que covenables Gages soient ordeinez pur les ditz 

 Justices, come semblera as Chanceller et Tresorer notre Seignurle Roi. 

 . . . Le Roi commandera as Chanceller et Tresorer sur ce sa volente." 

 A similar request is recorded, ibid., 286b; and the accusation is even 

 made that the justices fail to do their duty for lack of wages; ibid., 312b, 

 333b and 341b. In the course of the next reign the frequent petitions 

 finally result in a statutory provision, Statutes, 12 R. II, c. 10. 



^See pt. I, ch. iii, s. i, B, a. 



