DISPOSITION OF THE PENALTIES ng 



count of the tax ; ^ although apparently it was permissible 

 for the receipts from the constables and subcollectors to be 

 signed later.- This interpretation, of course, means that 

 all estreats not delivered to the collectors were claimed by 

 the crown. Perhaps the most noteworthy instance of the 

 stringency with which the exchequer interpreted the statute 

 to the advantage of the revenue of the crown is a case in- 

 volving deceit on the part of the collectors, where it is finally 

 shown that the community of the county in question had re- 

 nounced its rights to a share of the penalties in favor of 

 extra payments to certain individuals who had been zealous 

 in helping the collectors levy the tax; it is decided that 

 since these individuals had not received their bonus till 

 2 January of the 28th year, after the end of the subsidy, 

 they must refund it to the crown. ■'' 



The Memoranda Rolls are full of actions against collec- 

 tors to compel them to levy ad opus Regis the estreats in 

 their possession, and likewise of suits against justices of 

 labourers to force them to send into the exchequer back 

 estreats that had not been delivered to the collectors, in or- 

 der that they might be levied by the sheriff. Owing partly 

 to frequent laxities on the part of sheriffs in executing the 

 exchequer's writs of attachment and distraint,'* many of 

 these cases drag on for a number of years, particularly 

 those involving actual misappropriation by collectors. The 

 annoyance to the exchequer must have been cumulative as 

 the years went by, and the profit to the crown was prob- 

 ably not great; it is, therefore, not surprising that in 1362,^ 

 the crown resigned its claim to arrears, in favor of the 

 communities. 



'Mem. L. T. R., 31, Trin., Recorda, rot. 6; York, W. R. 

 ^/did. 'App., 303-305. * Cf. p. 116, note 2. 



'''Statutes, 36 Edw. Ill, st. i, c. 14; the immediate cause for the 

 change will be touched on in the next section. 



