CENTRAL COURTS 



207 



A further analysis of the 299 cases gives the follow- 

 ing results. ij6 actions for departure: attachment (no 

 further process), 15; jury on question of fact (result not 

 given), 107; judgment on question of law, 8; jury on one 

 point (result not given) and judgment on another, i; jury 

 on question of fact, verdict given, 5. 



116 actions for retention: attachment, 7; jury on ques- 

 tion of fact, loi ; judgment on question of law, i ; judg- 

 ment asked but not recorded, i ; jury on one point and 

 judgment asked on another, i ; jury on question of fact, 

 verdict given, 5. 



4/ actions for retention and departure: attachment, 3 ; 

 jury on question of fact, 39; jury on one point and judg- 

 ment on another, 2; jury on question of fact, verdict 

 given, 3. 



Totals: attachment, 25; jury, 247; judgment, 9; judg- 

 ment asked but not recorded, i ; jury on one point and 

 judgment on another, in one instance asked but not re- 

 corded, 4; jury on question of fact, verdict given, 13. 



In the comparatively few instances where the final re- 

 sults are recorded,^ the important question to be answered 

 is : are the findings of the courts for or against the labouring 

 classes? The judgments may be considered first. By a 

 strange coincidence I have failed to find the records cor- 



^ It is not only in actions on the statutes of labourers that the results 

 do not appear. Cf. Introduction to Year Book, 3 Edw. II, Ixxi (Selden 

 Soc.) : " A day is given to the parties to hear their judgment. A blank 

 space for the judgment is left upon the roll, and blank it remains after 

 the lapse of six centuries. What happens in these cases we do not 

 know; but we fancy that very often the parties, weary of waiting for a 

 judgment, patch up their quarrel without telling the Court anything 

 about the compromise. In some future volume we, or some of our suc- 

 cessors, may be able to explain more fully than we could at present how 

 it comes about that so many records finish with an issue of fact or with 

 an issue of law, and show no judgment and no verdict." 



