1 1 6 ENFORCEMENT OF THE ST A TUTES OF LABO URERS 



Their duplicate estreats, too, are not always forthcoming- 

 and are sometimes obtained only as the result of exchequer 

 action extending over a number of years/ 



Even if the collectors were zealous in the performance 

 of their duties, it is easy to see that a system involving the 

 ready cooperation of so many different sets of officials, 

 would not always work smoothly. Possible reasons for lax- 

 ity on the part of subcollectors have already been mentioned ; 

 the justices of labourers have sometimes proved remiss in 

 holding their sessions or in delivering their estreats ; and in 

 several cases the collectors' excuse for not levying the 

 penalties is that the sheriff and his subordinates had not as- 

 sisted them.^ In view of all these difficulties, and also of 

 the fact that the payment of the full amount of the tax 

 could not, of course, be delayed, it is evident that, even not 

 including cases of actual embezzlement by the collectors, 

 there wotild be frequent instances of arrears of penalties. 



Without here raising the question as to whether the ar- 

 rears are due to actual dishonesty on the part of any ofhcial, 

 the exchequer method of dealing with them must now be 

 examined, first of all during the period when the subsidy 

 was still running. If, for a given collection, the justices 

 have been dilatory as to their estreats, they are ordered by 



^ App., 281-287, referred to on p. no, note i, supra. 



^Mem. L. T. R., 28, Mich., Breu. Ret., d, Hunts.; the coroners are 

 ordered to distrain the sheriff on the ground that " vicecomes et minis- 

 tri sui non sunt intendentes eisdem collectoribus " in levying the pen- 

 alties. Ibid., 28, Pasch., Recorda, rot. 8; De quadam summonicione 

 restituta per collectores secundi anni solucionis x"" in comitatu Dors'; 

 and ibid., 29, Pasch.. Breu. Ret., rot. 2 d, Dorset; the coroners are 

 ordered to distrain the sheriff, John de Palton, on the ground that he 

 had not done his duty in levying the penalties. Ibid., 29, Mich., Breu. 

 Ret., Shropshire; the king's serjeant-at-arms is ordered to attach the 

 collectors because the sheriff had failed to return the writ. Cf. also p. 

 117, note 7 for another instance of a delinquent sheriff and p. 137. 



