146 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



Although the test case as to the primate had resulted in 

 a statute admitting that de jure these penalties belonged to 

 the lords, it is to be noted that the exchequer succeeded in 

 the contention that the penalties for the period between the 

 end of the subsidy and the enactment of the amending 

 statute belonged to the crown. Instances occur when lords 

 who, during this interval had levied the penalties for their 

 own use, — undoubtedly acting in good faith, especially in re- 

 gard to those imposed by the special justices serving within 

 their liberties, — were obliged to refund the amount to the 

 crown. The case of the duke of Cornwall is to the point ; 

 he acknowledges that he had levied the penalties in Oxford- 

 shire and Berkshire during the years just before the new 

 statute and is charged with the amount ; ^ a similar con- 

 fession for the county of Northampton has similar results.* 

 The sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire says that 

 he ought to have levied the penalties for several years past 

 within the lil)erties of the duke in the honour of Walling- 

 ford and Berkhamsted but has not done so because the duke 

 had already levied them. The duke admits the truth of the 

 statement and is charged with the amount.^ A brief refer- 

 ence has been already made to the unusually large number 

 of claims to penalties made by the magnates of the counties 

 of Warwick and Leicester, after the statute of 1357, and 

 to their impatience at the necessity of separating fines from 

 excess as well as separating estreats of sessions of the peace 

 from those of sessions for labourers ; it seems probable that 

 these complaints were the decisive factor in bringing about 

 the consolidation of the two commissions.* 



'Mem, L. T. R., 32, Mich., Precepta, rot. 7, Oxford and Berks. 



'App., 379-382. 



•*Mem. L. T. R., 32, Hill., Precepta, rot. 6 d, Bedf. and Bucks.: 

 special justices were appointed within this liberty of the duke on 26 

 March, 1356; app., 140. 



* Pages 23-24. 



