PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE JUSTICES jj 



busy ; the constables are very often in mercy for not 

 having their presentments ready, and are often them- 

 selves under indictment for concealing their knowledge 

 of guilty labourers, while the tithingmen are frequently 

 punished for their failure to provide stocks/ 



From this brief catalogue, it is noteworthy that except 

 for the prohibition of almsgiving to the able-bodied, the 

 justices were taking cognizance of every clause of both 

 ordinance and statute ; and it is probable that just at this 

 crisis employers were not very likely to be guilty of 

 almsgiving. The impression conveyed by the variety of 

 ofTences will, however, be entirely erroneous unless it is 

 pointed out, with all the emphasis possible, that the num- 

 ber of labourers presented for the receipt of excess wages 

 and of excess prices is far greater than the total of all 

 the other offenders taken altogether ; in the case of the 

 latter, in each instance, one or two individuals are indicted 

 at a given time ; while in the case of the former, the list 

 of names included in a specific indictment sometimes 

 runs as high as twenty or thirty ; in fact, one of the 

 clearest and most voluminous rolls, that for Somerset, 

 contains no example of any other offence than that of the 

 receipt of "excess." Undoubtedly, therefore, the main 

 work of the justices of labourers must be considered to 

 be their endeavor to keep down the level of wages and 

 prices to the rates prevailing before the plague. - 



(4) Economic and social status of the delinquents. — 

 Were it not for the phrase liberos used sometimes of the 



"150-152. 



*In the choice of my extracts for the appendix I was guided by a de- 

 sire to show examples of all types of offences of which the justices were 

 taking cognizance; the complete rolls convey an impression of a far 

 greater proportion of offences against the wages and price clauses than 

 do the selections here printed. 



