1919.] EARLY CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY. 189 



name figures on several charters (1) passed before the Court of 

 the Exchequer at Caen, in the presence of William Fitz 

 Ralph, the Seneschal of Normandy, between the years 1174 

 and 1194. Again, the fines inflicted on Robert de Haverland, 

 Gilbert de la Hougue's deputy, and the fermors of the Jersey 

 ministerial in 1180, for having been present and consenting to 

 the compounding of cases of maiming, and for settling a suit 

 without the consent of the Justices, can only have been 

 imposed by a superior authority to that of the court of the 

 incriminated local authorities, that is by the Itinerant Justices 

 who had probably visited the isles in 1179 or early in 1180. 

 In the infliction of these fines we see the Justices carrying out 

 locally the duties imposed upon them according to the " Tres 

 Ancien Coutumier " to enquire — " que li visconte e li sergent 

 n'aient mal fet en leur baillies envers les innocenz e que il 

 n'oient recete larrons e autres malfeteurs par deniers qui leur 

 aient este done, e que il n'oient fet pes celeement d'omecide qui 

 soit etainz par le serement de xij. chevaliers del visne. E se 

 il true vent que tel chose oit este fet il la doivent fere amandes 

 lealment et fermement."* 2 ) The " Tres Ancien Coutumier " 

 states that the Assizes were held once or twice a year in each 

 vicomte at the end of the 12th century. < 3) It is doubtful if 

 they could have been held so frequently in our islands. In 

 the following century they were held every three years, and 

 early in the reign of Henry III. this triennial visit of the 

 Itinerant Justices is referred to as an ancient custom, and 

 probably it was in existence before the loss of Normandy. 



An entry in the Great Rolls of 1 195 shows how exactly the 

 administration of the Channel Islands conformed to all changes 

 introduced in Normandy. The previous year, 1 194, had seen in 

 England Hubert Walter, the Justiciar's great inquiry into 

 escheats, an inquiry necessitated by the death of many of the 

 tenants-in-chief at the crusade in the Holy Land with Richard 

 I., and also in consequence of Prince John's rebellion. (J) In 

 Normandy we find in the Great Roll of 1195, traces of a similar 

 inquiry made by specially appointed escheators for various 

 districts. The accounts of Thomas de Brikeville and Gaufrid 

 Sire Home, escheators for the bailiwick of Coutances <5) contain 

 an entry of the expenses of Herbert, the clerk, Richard de 

 Osolville and Richard Bervuche sent to the Channel Islands 

 to hold an inquisition as to escheats. Also Gaufrid Sire 



(1) Haskin, Norman Institutions, p. 335, Cal. Documents in France, pp. 145, 116. 



(2) Tardif. T. A. C. II. LV. 



(3) Ibid. LV. 



(1) Powicke, The Loss of Normandy, pp. 116-117. 

 (5) Stapleton, Mag. Rot. Scaec. VI., p. 141. 



