170 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



is possible that occasionally a case was overlooked, and 

 since only about a quarter of the total number of Plea Rolls 

 was examined, the resulting information does not allow 

 absolutely dogmatic statements as to the working of the 

 statutes; it is, however, based on the study of a suffi- 

 ciently large proportion of the facts to warrant definite 

 conclusions as to the attitude of the courts and as to the 

 general trend of legal interpretation. 



My method of treatment has therefore taken the follow- 

 ing form. First: in the appendix, I give a list of the 44 

 reports with cross references to the abridgments and to the 

 Plea Rolls, and examples of writs from the Registrum 

 Brevium; I also print thirteen typical reports and the cor- 

 responding records (when possible), and a few extracts 

 from Coroners' Rolls and Ancient Indictments. Second : in 

 my text, on the basis of the data obtained from the Plea 

 Rolls, I have compiled a few statistics ^ as to the frequency 

 of actions on the statutes, the status of the offenders, the 

 nature of the verdicts etc. ; and further, I discuss from all 

 the above sources the most important questions of law con- 

 nected with the statutes. 



(2) Numerical account of the actions on the statutes of 

 labourers. — As far as could be ascertained from the Year 

 Books, the distribution of the 44 reported cases between 

 the two upper courts was as follows : ^ king's bench, 4 ; 

 common pleas, 24 certainly, and 7 probably;* no clue to 

 court, 9. The preponderance of reports for the court of 

 common pleas established a presumption that the majority 

 of the 16 doubtful cases would belong to it rather than to 



^ A caution has just been given as to the nature of these statistics. 

 ^App., 416-419. 



^Fitzherbert's extra cases; 3 of the 10 were clearly in the common 

 pleas. 



