DISPOSITION OF THE PENALTIES 1 1 j 



The other instance to be considered is a question of the 

 interpretation of the terms of the grant. The exchequer had 

 refused to permit the collectors in Buckinghamshire to in- 

 clude in their allowances to that county the penalties under 

 the statutes of labourers imposed by the justices of the court 

 of king's bench; on complaint of the collectors, the king 

 issued a writ to the treasurer and barons informing them 

 that penalties under the statutes of labourers imposed by 

 all justices, whatever the court, belonged to the communi- 

 ties in aid of the subsidy/ 



From this summary of the specific instructions given to 

 the officials concerned with this grant, it is easy to see that 

 the second experiment has remedied all the obvious elements 

 of weakness of the council's measure,^ and, by greater ex- 

 plicitness as to the administrative details, marks an advance 

 also over the provisions of the statute of labourers. Leav- 

 ing for a later section the discussion of cases of actual mis- 

 appropriation by officials and also of the relation of the 

 amount of the penalties to the amount of the tax, the prac- 

 tical working of the scheme must now be examined as it is 

 revealed in the original accounts of collectors and justices 

 and in documents connected with these accounts, and also in 

 the various exchequer enrollments." 



The normal sequence of events in each county is as fol- 

 lows : the total amount of the profits arising from the ses- 

 sions of the justices of labourers is ascertained,* and then 



'App., 275-276; 328-329. The exceedingly large amount of the pen- 

 alties in this county is perhaps explained by this decision. It is to be 

 noted that arrears are included; the list goes back to Easter term, 1349, 

 evidently an error, as the ordinance was not proclaimed until June of 

 that year. 



'See preceding section, pp. 104-105, 



'See app., 255-258; 312-314, for an account of these documents. 



*To this total must be added the sum of the penalties from the two 

 upper courts. 



