THE OLD LOCAL COURTS 155 



a similar type they usually lay stress on the assizes of bread 

 and ale as examples of economic regulations made by the 

 central government and applied to the kingdom as a whole/ 

 although enforced in the local courts," the sheriff's turn/ 

 and the leet, either seignorial,* or borough.'' Still more 

 direct antecedents of the wages and price clauses of the 

 ordinance and statute are the regulations of the craft gilds 

 and of the municipal authorities.® The earliest limitation 

 of wages that I have seen was issued by the London 

 authorities in the twelfth century or even before, and af- 

 fects various artisans in the building trades.^ During the 

 next century and a half, regulations either drawn up by 

 members of trades and approved by the London municipal 

 authorities, or originating with the latter, follow each other 

 in quick succession.* The)^ include prices of victuals, and 



' Introduction, p. 3, note 2. 



^ Among the presentments in the leets and turns there are "those 

 never ceasing breaches of the assizes of bread and beer." Pollock and 

 Maitland, HtsL Eng. Lau\ ii, 519-520. 



"^ Ibid., i, 558-560. 



* By prescription or by special grant certain lords claimed the view of 

 frankpledge and the right to hold a court co-ordinate with the sheriff's 

 turn. " The lord who has the view usually has the assize of beer, more 

 rarely the assize of bread also." Ibid., i, 580-582. 



'"Ibid., i, 657 658; cf. also Records of the Borough of Nottingham and 

 Leet Jurisdiction in Norwich. 



"For an account of this subject, see Gross, Sources of Eng. Hist.. 

 under Boroughs, Gilds and Municipal records in index; also his Bib. 

 of Municipal Hist. In a recent monograph on the Eng. Craft Gilds 

 and the Government, Miss Kramer maintains that the municipal author- 

 ities authorized and approved the gild ordinances. 



^" De conditione operariorum;" printed by Cunningham, Growth of 

 Eng. Industry and Commerce , i, 567-568. 



** Easily available in the Calendars of the Letter-Books of the city, ed- 

 ited by Sharpe, and in the volumes edited by Riley, Memorials of Lond. 

 and Munimeiita Gildhallae, including Liber Albus, Liber Custutnarum 

 and Liber Horti. Lib. Ctcst., in Mun. Gildhallae, ii, 86, contains an 



