140 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



that the apphcation of these penalties in aid of the triennial 

 of 1352, shall include those to be levied si bien deinz Fraun- 

 chises come dehors; although the king's answer includes the 

 proviso sauves a chesciin Seignur lour fraunchises saw^ nulle 

 emblemissement,^ a study of the tax accounts (already de- 

 scribed in detail) has shown no evidence that the lords ob- 

 tained any portion of the penalties. Further, the king's 

 answer to a petition as to the distribution of the penalties, 

 presented just when the subsidy was about to expire, ends as 

 follows : Et si finera Ic tcnnc du grant dii dit cxcesse al Seint 

 Michel proschein a venir, apres queu terme eit chescun Seig- 

 nur sa Framichise tiele come il avoit devant.- From the 

 evidence just presented, it seems a fair inference that the 

 lords were considered by the crown to have certain claims 

 to these penalties as well as to others; that these claims 

 were, however, not recognized during the running of the 

 two subsidies, and that the short gap between the two 

 was not sufficiently long for the matter to come up, but 

 that, after Michaelmas, 1354, the question would have to 

 be dealt with by the exchequer. Since a clause in the 

 charters granted to the conspicuous franchise holders in- 

 cluded the right to levy through their own agents and for 

 their own use the various forms of penalties imposed on 

 delinquents proved to be " their men and tenants," it was 

 naturally assumed that such a clause would include the 

 penalties under discussion, the importance of which had 

 been made thoroughly clear during their application to the 

 subsidies. That the lords were not slow to perceive the 

 possibility of advantage to themselves is proved by the ap- 

 pointment, undoubtedly at their instigation, of special jus- 

 tices of labourers to act within their liberties as distinct 



'^Rot. Pari., ii, 238a; cf. p. 107, and notes 2 and 3. 

 ^ Rot. Pari., ii. 258a; rf. p. 130. 



