§4 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



is much simpler than one is led to expect by the summary 

 of the provisions. Their penalties fall into two main 

 groups, fines and " excess ; " the latter can, of course, 

 apply only to the giving and taking of illegal wages and 

 prices, and since "excess " is equivalent to the difference 

 between the legal and the illegal rates, the amount to be 

 assessed upon each offender is limited by the degree of 

 his ofifence, very little room being left for the discretion 

 of the justices.' The excess goes to the plaintiff if any 

 sue but with the system of presentments by juries, so 

 commonly used, its disposition is regulated by the statu- 

 tory provision.^ Fully as frequent as the penalty of 

 " excess " is the /ims or finem fecit, applicable, of course, 

 in case of the infringem.ent of any clause of the statutes, 

 including the wages and price clauses. ^ It does not 

 represent the modern idea of a fine but is an indefinite 

 sum to be determined by the justices, all the circum- 

 stances of the case being taken into consideration ; it 

 really means that an offender, in order to be quit of 

 the consequences of his guilt, must pay whatever the 

 court decides and until he can pay the amount as fixed 

 he must abide in prison unless he can find security for 

 such payment. Very often the offender is able to pay 

 immediately, and if not, he can almost always find pledges 

 acceptable to the court ; it is therefore unlikely that im- 



facti fuerunt per mandatum nostrum secundum formam statuti predict! 

 in predicta villa de Leighton ad delinquentes et culpabiles contra formam 

 ordinacionis et statuti predictorum inuentos in eisdem cippis manci- 

 pandos et saluo custodiendos maliciose et contra pacem nostram fregit 

 et separatim illos in foueam proiecit." 30 pt. i, m. 15, 23 March, " De 

 pardonacione utlagarie." 



' In later years, a petition of the commons that the amount forfeited 

 shall be double this difference is refused; Rot. Pari., ii, 296 a. 



''App., 15-16. 'App., 14s, or 230. 



