224 ENFORCEMENT OF THE STATUTES OF LABOURERS 



except for the work of the upper courts, there is as yet very 

 little definite information. The petitions in parHament in- 

 dicate a possible falling-off in the energy with which the 

 statutes were administered ; certainly d priori, no officials 

 would be as zealous as the justices of labourers, who had 

 no other duties, and whose salaries depended directly on 

 securing- a goodly number of convictions; but all opinions 

 are more or less of the nature of guess-work until the 

 sources for the last part of the reign have been thoroughly 

 examined. Only after such an examination will there be a 

 possibility of understanding the precise relations of the 

 statutes to the great revolt.^ 



My main object has been to give an account of admin- 

 istrative methods, and to call attention to the manuscript 

 sources: there has proved to be an almost inexhaustible 

 wealth of material for statistics of wages and prices, and 

 ior detailed information as to the manner of life of the 

 ordinary people. It is to be hoped that in the near future 

 some one better fitted for the task than is the present writer 

 will make use of this material for the purpose of giving a 

 vivid picture of this daily life, in order that " the thoughts 

 of our forefathers, their common thoughts about common 

 things, will have become thinkable once more." " 



' Langland is worth quoting: 



" And thanne curseth he the kynge and al his conseille after. 

 Suche lawes to loke laboreres to greue." 

 lision of Piers the Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. Passus vi, 318-319. 

 Vakiable results might be obtained if an investigator were to take a 

 given county, Essex, for example, and examine all the material having 

 to do with the statutes for the whole period from 1349 to 1381. 

 - Maitland, Domesday Book avd Beyovd, 520. 



