8o THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



King ; but if he was not there accused, and escaped into the house of 

 a man who had sake and soke, the latter had the amends of the 

 culprit." 1 



Here it is definitely stated that the person who had sake 

 and soke over a house received the fines arising from the 

 misdeeds of those who lived therein. Similarly, there were 

 ten inhabitants of Wallingford who received the forfeitures for 

 bloodshed, and larceny and adultery in their own houses, " if 

 the culprit was received before he was accused by the King's 

 reeve ; " 2 and nineteen burgesses of Warwick who held nine- 

 teen houses with sake and soke and all the King's customs. 3 



We therefore understand the reason why Domesday Book 

 contains memoranda of those who, T. R. E., were entitled to 

 sake and soke within the four shires of Derby, Nottingham, 

 York, and Lincoln. The lists include grandees like the Arch- 

 bishop of York and Countess Godiva, and humbler individuals 

 like Elsi the son of Caschin, who had this privilege over his 

 manor of Worksop. But appended to the Nottinghamshire 

 list is a note that " none of these could have the earl's third 

 penny except by his grant, and that only for his life, except 

 the Archbishop of York and the Countess Godiva and Ulf 

 Senisc." 4 There is a similar list of those who had sake and 

 soke in the lathes of Sutton and Aylesford in Kent. 5 



It is impossible that all these persons having sake and 

 soke held courts of their own, in which they judged their own 

 men ; it is inconceivable that each of the nineteen burgesses 

 at Warwick held a separate court for his own house ; it is 

 far more probable that the penalties were imposed by the 

 court of the district, and were there claimed by the holder of 

 the sake and soke, in the same way " as to-day the clerk to 

 the guardians has to apply to the City justices for the pay- 

 ment to the overseers of the parish where the offence was 



1 D. B., I. 32 a i. 2 Id., I. 56 b i. 3 Id., I. 238 a I. 



4 Id., I. 280 b i. 5 Id., I. i b i. 



