SAKE AND SOKE 83 



of Scocies had the soke of six forfeitures in Cheninchall ; 1 

 and the Bishop of London had the six forfeitures from five 

 sokemen in Blafield ; 2 but usually, whoever might have the 

 sake and soke over minor offences in Norfolk, the six for- 

 feitures probably peace-breach, " hamsocn " (housebreaking), 

 fihtwite, fyrdwite, outlaw's work, and the receipt of outlaws 3 

 went to the King. But in some parts of Suffolk these for- 

 feitures were received by the Abbey of St. Edmund, and they 

 were therefore called the six forfeitures of St. Edmund. 



Sometimes we find that the court in possession of sake and 

 soke varied according to the social position of those from 

 whom it was due. The sake and soke of the half-hundred of 

 Diss was divided in such a way that " of all those who held 

 less than 30 acres, the sake and soke lay in Fordwell," i.e. 

 their fines were paid to the officer of the manor of Fordwell ; 

 " of all those who held 30 acres or more, the sake and soke 

 lay in the hundred," and their fines were payable to the 

 sheriff at the hundred-moot. 4 In the hundred of Walsham 

 (Norfolk) the earl had sake and soke over all those who 

 owed him fold-soke ; but the King and the earl shared the 

 sake and soke over all the other freemen, who therefore paid 

 their fines to the hundred-moot. 5 



On the whole, then, Domesday Book affords evidence that 

 where a person or a church had the privilege of sake and soke, 

 he received the fines for certain offences, but, except in a few 

 cases, it affords no evidence whether he held a court of his 

 own. 



There are, however, two passages speaking of courts other 

 than the hundred and county courts. The manor of Acton 

 (Cheshire) " holds its pleas in the hall of its lord ; " 6 but this is, 

 perhaps, an anomaly, as there is no similar passage in our record. 

 The other passage is the well-known record, telling how Picot, 

 the Sheriff of Cambridge, lent three sokemen to Earl Roger to 



1 D. B., II. 223 b. 2 Id., II. 195. 3 D. B. andB., 88. 



4 Id., II. 130 b. 5 Id., II. 129 b. 6 D. B., I. 265 b i. 



