176 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



volving the statutes, 6 of which refer to the contract ^ and 

 one to the compulsory service clause.- In the court of 

 king's bench there are 22 cases on the contract clause, and 

 2 cases involving the statutes in general." Therefore of 

 the 312 cases, 299 are on the contract clause, and 6 involve 

 it, — a total of 305 ; whereas there are only 2 cases on the com- 

 pulsory service clause, and one involving it ; 2 on the statute 

 of the 35th year, and 2 involving the statutes in general, — a 

 total of 7. Of actions that have reached merely the initial 

 stage, the 47 De Banco Rolls contain one on the summer 

 and winter clause,* 9 on the statute of the 35th year, and 

 nearly 60 on the compulsory service clause. The last group, 

 while numerous in comparison with the two that have reached 

 a later stage, in absolute numbers is still far less than the 

 actions on the contract clause in the initial stage, which, 

 roughly speaking, amount to over 2500. Several important 

 suits for breach of contract deal with the rights of lords over 

 their tenants, both villein and free, but no action has come 

 under my observation based directly on this clause, nor a 

 single instance of a case on the wages or price clause. In 

 view of the figures just given it is natural that the rolls of 

 exigends '' and the pardons for outlawry " should show few 

 examples of infringement of the statutes other than of the 

 contract clause. 



The later legal treatises (not counting the Registrum) 

 reveal the same emphasis on the contract. The form of 



'Cases 10, 17 and 43, app., F, 5 and 6; case 30, list in app., F, 3; De 

 Banco, 40, Pasch., 175, Stiff.; 40, Mich., 175 d, Essex and 41, Trin., 

 312, Essex. Throughout this chapter " list in app." refers to the list 

 in F, 3. 



-De Banco, 50, Hill., 345, Surrey. ^ App., 213. and pp. 123-124, note i. 



^De Banco, 29, Pasch., 135 d, Notts. 



"Included among Coroners' Rolls; see p. 166, note 2, and app., 413- 



415- 



'"'Enrolled on the Patent Rolls; see p. 166, note 2, and app., 415. 



