70 



FEUDALISM IN GUERNSEY. 



the prevot for the year. That this rather important officer, 

 who also acted as receiver of the revenue of the manor, 

 should have been elected yearly by the vellein tenants 

 is a very interesting fact, one certainly quite contrary to 

 the generally conceived notions on feudalism. The same 

 custom prevailed in most of our Guernsey manors, with 

 the exception of that of La Rosiere, belonging to the 

 Seigneur d'Anneville, of which the " prevote " was hereditary 

 in the family of Prey, who were considerable landowners near 

 " Les Grandes Capelles." 



There were also seven bordiers of Fief du Comte who 

 held their lands called " bordages " by service of acting as 

 police officers to the court. They had to attend its sittings, 

 execute its orders, help the prevot in arresting tenants of 

 the manor, and taking them to prison ; also in early times 

 they had to assist him in receiving from the hands of the 

 king's officers, felons, tenants of the manor condemned to 

 execution by the Royal Court, and hang them on the manorial 

 gallows, otherwise the king and not the lord of the manor, 

 got their escheats. 



The court of Fief du Comte judged all minor cases of 

 disputes of the tenants of the manor concerning lands and 

 chattels. But there was appeal from its judgments to the 

 Royal Court. Some of the arrear fiefs of the manor, such 

 as de Longues and Groignet, had also their own manorial 

 courts. Of that of Fief de Longues we have most infor- 

 mation, and even in the seventeenth century we find records 

 of appeals from its judgments to the court of Fief le Comte. 

 We may picture to ourselves the weary length of a lawsuit 

 in those days, beginning in a lower manor court, then wending 

 its way through the chief court of the manor on to the Royal 

 Court for final decision. 



The plea rolls of the court of Fief du Comte begin in 

 1479, and are perfect, with the exception of some few years 

 in the sixteenth century down to the suppression of the 

 judicial functions of the court in 1775. Unfortunately they 

 do not contain matters of such varied interest, throwing 

 light on the social condition of the people, as do similar 

 records in England. The court had little correctional power 

 over the tenants. Only very few cases of the exercise of this 

 power appear, chiefly referring to contempt of court, or 

 misconduct of officials. The ancient seal of the court still 

 exists. It represents a knight on foot in full plate armour 

 in the act of drawing his sword ; the nimbus round his head 

 and the letters S.G. above his shoulders show that the figure 



