PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE JUSTICES 



71 



are convicted, the last stage in the whole process is 

 reached, namely, the imposition of the penally ; but before 

 taking up that question it is more convenient to discover 

 on what clauses of the ordinance and statute the indict- 

 ments are usually based, and to what social and economic 

 classes the delinquents belong. 



(3) Clauses of the ordinance and statute most fre- 

 quently enforced ^ — Weak as is the ordinance in arrang- 

 ing efficient means by which its provisions are to be en- 

 forced, the provisions themselves stand out lucidly."" 



1. All able-bodied men and women, free and bond, 

 without definite means of support, are commanded to 

 accept service if offered them at the rate of wages of the 

 twentieth year of the reign, or of five or six years previ- 

 ous to that year ; lords are to have the first right to the 

 labour of their tenants. This may be called the com- 

 pulsory service clause. 



2. Reapers, mowers, and other workmen or servants 

 are forbidden to leave their masters within the term of 

 their contracts, without reasonable cause or permission ; 

 other masters are forbidden to retain servants who have 

 left within the term. This may be called the contract 

 clause. 



3. No one shall give or receive higher wages than are 



' The main responsibility for the regulation of wages of chaplains is 

 in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities and is not dealt with in 

 this monograph ; cf. app., 3 and 11-12. Although a few instances of 

 offences as to illegal weights and measures have been printed in the 

 extracts selected for the appendix, this whole subject is scarcely touched 

 on. 



'App., 8-12. The editors of the Cal. of Close Rolls, ix, translate 

 " seruiens " by " serjeant" both in the ordinance (87) and in the writs 

 for payment of wages to the justices of labourers (436-437). 



