SAKE AND SOKE 8r 



committed of half the fines under the Betting and Gaming- 

 Houses Acts for the relief of the poor-rates of that parish." l 

 There is a passage in one of the later Worcester charters 

 supporting this view. The owner of Burford had granted to 

 the abbey the vill of Buraston, which formed part of Burford, 

 and at the same time gave to the abbey all his rights over 

 Buraston, which included sake and soke, and the charter con- 

 tinues, that "if of necessity there should be a plea in the 

 halimote of Burford of larceny or rape, and a man of Buraston 

 should incur forfeiture, the prior shall have that forfeiture 

 which I ought to have." 2 



But if it is impossible that the smaller holders of sake and 

 soke held courts of their own, it is certain that some of the 

 larger owners of this privilege held separate courts. Worcester- 

 shire was divided into twelve hundreds, in seven of which the 

 sheriff had no interest. The Church of St. Mary of Worcester 

 held the triple hundred of Oswaldslaw, "so that no sheriff 

 could there have any litigation, neither in any plea nor in any 

 cause whatsoever." 3 Similarly, two hundreds belonged to 

 Westminster Abbey, a sixth to the Abbey of Pershore, and 

 a seventh to the Abbey of Evesham. No wonder that the 

 sheriff complained that he lost much in his farm, and found it 

 impossible to raise the sum of 16, which was due to the 

 King from the pleas of the hundreds. 4 



In addition to the Bishop of Worcester, whose separate court 

 for Oswaldslaw has been referred to, there was one other 

 prelate whose separate court is mentioned in Domesday Book, 

 and the pleas of the Bishop of Winchester at Taunton were 

 held thrice in the year without summons. 5 But apart from 

 these two prelates, there is no conclusive evidence in Domes- 

 day Book that the owners of sake and soke held courts of 

 their own, by which we mean that the court was under the 



1 D. Bor.) 50. 2 Worcester Register, 9 a. 



3 D. B., I. 172 b i. 4 D. B., I. 172 a I. 



5 M, I. 87 b i. 



