188 EARLY CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY. 



judgment on their report. Under Henry I. and Geoffrey of 

 Anjou this latter form of procedure was frequently resorted 

 to, and these inquisitions gradually developed early in the reign 

 of Henry II. into regular assizes, held by specially appointed 

 justices, and not only the tenants-in-chief, but all free tenants, 

 no matter of whose lord, when sued for their free tenements, 

 could refuse trial by battle in their lord's court, and by 

 obtaining a writ from the King or his chancery, they could 

 transfer the suit to the King's court, where it would be tried by 

 the inquisition of a jury of neighbours, who had knowledge of 

 the facts, and the case would be judged locally by the Itinerant 

 Justices.* 1 * This jury was styled the jury of recognition, and 

 it could only be summoned by a King's writ for a trial before 

 the King's justices,* 2 * but if the Duke thought fit he might order 

 the bailiff, or vicomte, to summon the jury and try the suit in 

 his own court. In this case it was the King's writ that made 

 the vicomte capable of judging a case, that was beyond the 

 competency of his own court. The sale of these writs was a 

 fruitful source of money to the King. The suitor paid just 

 what the greed of the King demanded, or the wealth of the 

 suitor allowed, for there were no fixed court fees in those days. 

 < 3 > We have an instance for Guernsey early in the reign of King 

 John, in 1201,< 4 > when we find William Le Canelly paying the 

 King 60 livres angevin, so that a suit concerning some land in 

 Guernsey, which he claimed from Matilda de Languetot and 

 her son Henry, might be tried before the King in the King's 

 Court. 



We can trace the visits of the Itinerant Justices in 

 Guernsey in the reign of Henry II. on two occasions. The 

 Inquisition held in 1248 refers to the Assizes held in 

 Guernsey by Ralph de Valemont, who had then enfeoffed 

 certain tenants with ownerless land. This Assize has been 

 erroneously stated to have been held in the reign of Geoffrey 

 of Anjou by some of our historians, who were led 

 astray by the statement of the author of that famous 17th 

 century forgery, " La Dedicace des Eglises," which represents 

 Castle Cornet as having been built by Ralph de Yalemont in 

 the reign of Geoffrey. Ralph de Valemont, however, was a 

 baron of the Norman Exchequer under Henry II., and his 



(1) Valin, Le Due de Normandie et sa Cour 194-220, Haskin, Norman Institu- 

 tions 189. Cf. Tardif, T.A.C., Part I, XVII-XXV. 



(2) Tardif. Tres Ancien Coutumier, XXV. Nus requenoissanz ne sera fez fors 

 par le brief le due ou a sa justice, qui est euz legierement : quar li clerc sont establi 

 a fere les bries, qui oeut les plaintes as homes. 



(3) Pollock & Maitland, H. E. L., Vol. i, p. 157-195. 



(i) Le Quesne, Constitutional History of Jersey, p. 88 : Rot. Normannire, anno 

 regis Johannis secundo, p. 



