8 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



ought to have in the twelve month from that shire. Also he let 

 them write how much land his archbishops had, and his bishops, and 

 his abbots, and his earls, and, though I tell it longer, what or how 

 much each man had, that was landsitting in England, in land or 

 cattle, and how much it was worth. So very narrowly did he let 

 them speir it out that there was not a hide nor a yardland, nor it 

 is shameful to tell, though he thought it no shame to do so much as 

 an ox or a cow or a swine was left, that was not set down in his 

 writ : and all these writs were brought to him afterwards." 



From the wording of this extract from the Chronicle we 

 can see that it was the incidence of taxation which the Con- 

 queror had in his mind when he sent his men throughout 

 England. He wanted to know who was liable to pay geld, 

 and what each man was liable to pay ; nay, more, he wanted 

 to know if each man was fairly assessed, and, if not, what was 

 his fair assessment. And therefore we must, in the first place, 

 regard Domesday Book as a monumental valuation list, with 

 notes on which a new assessment could be based. 



" Every one who has been concerned in preparing a new valuation 

 list or in assessment appeals, knows that every item is of importance 

 in arriving at the proper assessment. In the majority of cases the 

 actual rent or estimated letting value is taken as the basis of assess- 

 ment ; but in other cases evidence must be collected : the cost of a 

 new building, the gross receipts of a railway, the trade done in 

 a public-house, may all be taken into account." l 



Similarly, the Domesday Commissioners omitted everything 

 that they thought was immaterial, and inserted everything 

 that they thought was material evidence in arriving at a just 

 valuation of the property. The lengthy list of the byelaws 

 of the city of Chester is given, not as a model for other cities, 

 but that a record might be preserved of the shares in which 

 the fines were divided between the King and the earl. When 

 they recorded that the fine for bloodshed between Saturday 

 and Monday was double that for a similar offence during the 



1 D. Bor., 3. 





