CENTRAL COURTS 20r 



It is not easy to ascertain the precise effect of the con- 

 tract clause. Up to nearly the end of the reign there is 

 clear evidence in both reports and records that if a villein, 

 who had escaped from his lord or who had by payment of 

 chivage acquired the right to live outside the manor/ made 

 a contract with a new employer, he could be re-taken by 

 his lord. The verbs used to describe such a recovery of 

 villeins are : seisiuit,~ recepit et reduxit,^ ahstulit et recepit* 

 arestauit,^ prisomns,^ cepit et abduxitj cepit.^ The coun- 

 sel for the other side does not deny the lord's right to re- 



^ I am indebted to Professor Vinogradofif for suggesting the import- 

 ance of the second class. 



-The record of case 7, Hst in app., printed by VinogradofT; the report 

 has " prisomus." 



•''The record of case 9, app., F, 6; the report has "prisomus." 



*Case 30, list in app.; in an action of trespass " vi et armis " for tak- 

 ing servant out of plaintiff's service, the defendant's plea is that said 

 servant was his " natiuus;" therefore "dictum Thomam ab eodem 

 lohanne Ewyn (plaintifT) abstulit et recepit sicut ei bene licuit." Plain- 

 tiff claimed that servant was free; issue joined on question of villeinage 

 versus freedom. 



*Case 38, app., F, 6. 



''Case 41, list in app.; record not found. In an action on the statute 

 of labourers for the taking of a servant out of plaintiff's service, the de- 

 fendant's plea is that as bailiff of the countess of Pembroke he had 

 taken said servant as villein regardant to her manor. 



'De Banco, 33, Hill., 176 d, Wilts; in an action for the retention of 

 a servant, the defendant's plea is that said servant was his villein and 

 that having found ' ' eundem Walterum villanum suum a dominie suo 

 sine licencia et voluntate sua elongatum, cepit eum et abduxit, prout ei 

 bene licuit." Issue was joined on question of villeinage versus freedom. 



'^Ibid., 45, Mich., 570 d, Devon, an action similar to the last: " Et 

 predictus Willelmus (defendant) . . . dicit quod predictus Dauid est 

 natiuus ipsius Willelmi vt de manerio suo de West Woguill et ipse seis- 

 itus de ipso Dauid vt de natiuo suo toto tem.pore predicto. Et quia pre- 

 dictus Willelmus indigebat de seruicio ipsius Dauid, idem Willelmus 

 cepit predictum Dauid de seruicio predicti lohannis (plaintiff), vt nati- 

 uum suum, prout ei bene licuit." Plaintiff denies that servant was de- 

 fendant's villein: issue on this point. 



