-O ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



vague and varying requirements : they are to be les 

 Grants de la terre, Coiites et Barons, chescun en sa 

 Marche, od les plus loialx et sages de la ley;^ or des plus 

 suffisantz demorantz deins les Countees;- the statute re- 

 sulting from this latter petition enacts the appointment 

 of iustices sachantz de lei, qi soient bones et couenables? 

 The most specific demand is for des plus loialx, sages & 

 sufficeantz des Countees, . . . et que nul Justice soil as- 

 signe par co7nmission sil ne soil sufficient d'estat et con- 

 dition a respondre au Roi et au poepie.^ Beyond the 

 negative criticism implied by such petitions there seems 

 to be no evidence of any general complaint against the 

 status of the men assigned during these years. Closely 

 bound up with the subject of the qualifications of the 

 justices is the question of their residence in the districts 

 to which they are assigned ; the petition for men demo- 

 rantz deins les Countees,^ repeated next time with greater 

 emphasis, et nient en foreins lieux,^ shows that there 

 must have been some abuse of the non-residence practice. 

 An examination of the appointments has already brought 

 out a notable difTerence between the membership of the 



' Rot. Pari., ii, 238a; cf. p. 27. 



''Ibid., ii, 252b; cf. p. 27. 'App., 17. 



* Rot. Pari., ii, 257b; in this case the request appHes to the keepers 

 of the peace also; cf. p. 27. A writ of privy seal, addressed to the chan- 

 cellor under date of 17 Aug., 1350 is worth quoting although it refers to 

 a keeper of the peace, not to a justice of labourers: "Force qe nous 

 auons entenduz qe Laurence de Ludelowe qest assigne vn des gardeins 

 de nostre pees en le conte de Shropshire nest pas sufisant ne couenable 

 pur la garde de nostre dite pees et de faire autres choses qappartignent 

 a son office, vous mandons que remue le dit Laurence facez assigner en 

 son lieu aucun autre homme sufifisant del dit conte qi serra plus couen- 

 able pur la garde de la pees susdite." Writs of Privy Seal, Chancery, 

 Series I, file 347, no. 21, 102. 



•"Rot. Pari., ii, 252b; quoted supra, note 2. 



^ Ibid., 257b; quoted supra, note 4. 



