84 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



hold his pleas, who were thereafter retained by the earl. 1 It 

 is useless to attempt to explain a passage which Professor 

 Maitland has given up in despair ; but one point is clear, that, 

 as in the hundred-moots, so in private courts, if this was a 

 private court, the suitors were the judges, and pronounced the 

 verdict, while the penalty was exacted by the officer of the 

 court. 



The single term " soke " is often used in such a way as to 

 give the impression that it is exactly similar in meaning to the 

 double term "sake and soke." St. Etheldreda of Ely had 

 the soke of five hundreds and a half in Suffolk, which pro- 

 duced ;ii. 2 But "soke" is often opposed to "sake and 

 soke." To the manor of Weaverthorpe pertained Elpethorp, 

 where there were 12 carucates for geld, 6 under soke, and 

 6 with sake and soke. 8 Reference has been made to the 

 list of owners of sake and soke in Yorkshire. The name of 

 Tostig does not appear in that list, but on the very next page 

 Tostig appears as the pre-Conquest owner of Walesgrif, to 

 which pertained, T. R. E., the soke of twenty-one lands occu- 

 pied by 1 08 sokemen, with forty-eight teams. 4 These two 

 instances show that " soke " was not always the same as " sake 

 and soke." The difference in meaning cannot be explained 

 at present ; it is here sufficient to point out the distinction. 

 And the distinction is emphasized by a passage in the Essex 

 Domesday, distinguishing between soke and forfeitures : " And 

 of all this soke St. Ouen has two parts and the King the 

 third, and always two parts of the forfeitures." 5 



1 D. B., 1. 193 b i. 2 id., II. 385 b. 3 id., i. 303 a i. 



4 Id., I. 299 a i. 5 Id., II. 22, 



