DISPOSITION OF THE PENALTIES 121 



It has been said that the collectors were often guilty of 

 perjury and the accusation must be made good/ Among 

 the sworn statements made by the collectors at the foot of 

 the tax accounts as excuses for not answering for the penal- 

 ties, and repeated under oath at the exchequer at the time 

 of the rendering of the accounts, by far the most common 

 is the non-delivery of the estreats by the justices." Unfor- 

 tunately for the reputation of the collectors, the system of 

 accounting devised by the commons and by the exchequer 

 prevented such an assertion from passing unchallenged. It 

 is proved again and again that these unscrupulous officials 

 had received the estreats and levied the penalties but had 

 appropriated the money to themselves, and under cover of 

 the formula " no estreats " had then raised from each dis- 

 trict the full quota of the tax, without giving the commun- 

 ity the benefit of an allowance.^ Detection comes in vari- 

 ous ways: the justices in delivering their duplicates to the 



^See p. 115. 



^See p. 115 and table in app.. 315-321; cf. also Mem. L. T. R., 28, 

 Mich., Communia, Fines, rot. 4d, Leyc': " Manucapcio collectorum xv* 

 in comitatu Leyc';" they had hoped for more estreats. Ibid., 28, Hill., 

 Presentaciones, rot. 3 d, De die dato, Glouc; they had received the 

 estreats too late to levy the penalties, but when given more time they 

 are still delinquent. 



*A statistical study should be made of such cases; I am merely indi- 

 cating some typical examples. Mem. K. R., 27, Mich., Status et visus, 

 Warwick; the collectors first say that they had received no estreats, but 

 finally admit that they had them in their possession. Mem. L. T. R., 

 28, Mich., Recorda, rot. 26, Suff' " De coUectoribus xv"'' et x""' com- 

 missis prisone pro transgressionibus etc." (a case very much like that 

 for Southampton, given in app., 289-293); the justices of labourers in 

 court accuse the collectors of falsehood. Ibid., 28, Mich., Presentaciones, 

 rot. 13 d, Surrey, De die dato; the collectors at first deny the receipt of 

 the estreats, but finally admit that they had lied and account. Ibid., 

 Sussex, De die dato; exactly the same course of events takes place. An 

 important case in Northampton will be discussed later in this section, 

 pp. 125-126. 



