302 COURTS 
to have nine,'who were bound that he fliould be always 
forth-coming to ani'wer any complaint. The better to 
underhand this, we are to be informed, that the king¬ 
dom being divided by king Alfred into counties or fhires, 
and each county into hundreds, and eacli hundred into 
tithings, each tithing containing ten families or houfe- 
holds, the heads of thefe families were reciprocally bound 
and refponfible for each other; fo that, in faCt, of every 
ten houfeholders throughout the kingdom, each man had 
nine pledges or fureties for his good behaviour. Leet is 
alfo a word ufed for a law-day in feveral of our ancient 
ftatutes. 
That the leet is the moft ancient court in the land, 
(for criminal matters, the court-baron being of no lefs 
antiquity in civil,) has been pronounced by the higheft 
legal authority, 7 Hen. VI. 12 b. 1 Roll. Rep. 73. For 
though we do not meet with the word among the Saxons, 
there can be no doubt of the exiftence of the thing. Lord 
Mansfield flates, that this court was co-eval with the efta- 
bliffiment of the Saxons here, and its activity “ marked 
very vifibly both amongft the Saxons and the Danes.” 
3 Burr. i860. In thofe times whoever poffeffed a vill or 
territory, with the liberties of foc,fac, &c. (a long firing 
of barbarous words) was the lord of a manor, had a court- 
leet, court-baron, and in a word every privilege which it 
feents to have been pofiible for the monarch to beftow, 
or for the fubjeCt to acquire. 
The leet is a court of record for the cognifance of 
criminal matters, or pleas of the crown, and neceffarily 
belongs to the king; though a fubjedt, ufually the lord 
of a manor, may be and is entitled to the profits, confid¬ 
ing of the effoign-pence, fines, and amerciaments. It is 
held before the fteward, (or was, in ancient times, before 
the bailiff,) of the lord. This officer, who ffiould be a 
barrifier of learning and ability, is a judge of record, may 
take recognizance of the peace, may fine, imprifon, and 
in a word, as to things to which his power extends, hath 
equal power with the juftices of the bench. By ftatute 
1 Jac. I. c. 5. he is prohibited from taking to the value 
of twelve-pence for his own ufe, by colour of any grant 
of the profits of this court. 
This court is held fometimes once, fometimes thrice, 
but mod commonly twice, in the year; that is, within a 
month after Eafter, and a month after Michaelmas; and 
cannot, unlefs by adjournment, be held at any time not 
warranted by ancient ufage. See Mag. Char. c. 35. and 
Spelman in v. Leta ; according to whom this court fhould 
be held regularly only once a-year; though fometimes by 
euftom twice, when it is called rcfiduum letce. As to the 
place in which it is held, that, it has been faid, may be 
any where within the precinCt ; 8 Hen. VII. 3. Owen, 35. 
but more ftriCtly fpeaking, ought to be certain and ac- 
cufiomed. Rafail’s Entries, 151. All perfons above the 
age of twelve years, and under lixty, except peers, clerks, 
women and aliens, refiant within the diftriCt, whether 
matters or fervants, owe perfonal fuit and attendance to 
this court, and ought to be here fworn to their fealty 
and allegiance. 2/«/?. 120, 121. And here alfo, by im¬ 
memorial ufage and of common right, that moll ancient 
conftitutional officer the conftable, 265.) and fome¬ 
times by prefcription the mayor of a borough, ftatute 
3 Geo. I. c. 4. are eleCted and fworn. See the article 
Constable, p.m of this volume. 
The general jurifdiCtion of the court-leet extends to 
all crimes, offences, and mifdemeanors, at the common- 
law, as well as to feveral others which have been fub- 
jeCted to it by adt of parliament. Thefe are enquired 
after by a body of the fuitors, eledled, fworn, and 
charged for that purpofe, who mud not be lefs than 
twelve, nor more than twenty-three ; and who, in fome 
manors, continue in office for a whole year; while, in 
others, they are fworn and difcharged in the courfe of a 
day. Whatever they find they prefent to the fteward; 
who, if the offence be treafon qr felony, muft return to 
the prefentment, (in thefe cafes called an indictment,) 
x 
OF LA W. 
to the king’s juftices of oyer and terminer, and gaol-de¬ 
livery. Will. II. c. 13. 1 Edw. III. c. 17. In all other 
cafes he has power, upon the complaint of any party 
grieved, or upon fufpicion of the concealment of any of¬ 
fence, to caufe an immediate enquiry into the truth of 
the matter by another jury. But the prefentment being 
received, and the day paffed, fliall be held true, and, un¬ 
lefs it concern the party’s freehold, fhall not be fliaken or 
queftioned by any tribunal whatever. HaleP.C. 153. 5. 
Upon every prefentment of the jury retained by the 
court, an amerciament follows of courfe, which is after¬ 
wards affelfed, in open court, agreeable to Magna Charta, 
c. 14. by the pares curia:, that is, the peers or equals of 
the delinquent ; and affeered or reduced to a precife 
fum, by two or more fuitors fworn to be impartial. 8 
Rep. 39. The amerciaments thus afcertained are then 
eftreated from the roll or book in which the proceedings 
are recorded, and levied by the bailiff by diftrefs and 
fale of the party’s goods, (8 Rep. 41.) by virtue of a 
warrant from the fteward to that effect; or may be re¬ 
covered by other means, as by procefs of levari facias, 
Hardr. 471. oraction of debt. Bull. N. P. 167. Nocrime 
in thofe remote ages appears to have been punifiied by 
death ; unlefs it were that of open theft, where the of¬ 
fender was taken with the mainour, that is, with the 
thing ftolen upon him : and of this crime, and this only, 
the cognizance did not belong to the leet. All other 
offences, of what nature or degree foever, fubjeCted the 
party to mulct or pecuniary fine, which was, in many 
cafes, determined and fixed. This pecuniary compofi- 
tion, with refpeCt to certain capital offences, was abro¬ 
gated, and the puniftiment of death fubftituted in its 
place, by Henry I. Spelman in v. Felo. Wilkinf. LL. Sax. 
304. It is not improbable that the diftinCtion of indict¬ 
ments for felonies, and prefentments of inferior offences, 
owes its origin to the above meafure. 
It has been faid, that by the claufe nullus vicecomes, See . 
in the Great Charter, c. 17, the jurifdiCtion of the leet 
was abridged, and its power to hear and determine taken 
away ; but this has been faid and repeated without due 
attention either to the nature and conftitution of the 
court, or to the law of the time. No offence, it is well 
known, is at this day, or, for aught that appears, ever 
was, heard and determined in the leet, nor before the 
period referred to, by any other criminal-court in the 
kingdom, otherwife than upon the prefentment of twelve 
men, or what we now in moft courts call the grand jury. 
This prefentment, as has been above obferved, found 
and eftabliflied the faCt; and judgment, whether of mi. 
fericordia, mutilation, or death, followed as an incident or 
matter of courfe; precifely, indeed, as the punifhment 
does at this day on the verdiCt for the king of the petty 
jury. In faCt, therefore, the jurifdiCtion of the leet was 
not in the leaft abridged or affeCted by that charter ; nor 
is it at all probable that the barons would either feek or 
fuffer the diminution of their own privileges, of which, 
on the contrary, there is an exprefs faving. That this 
court has no power to enquire of the death of a man, or 
of rape, is a more ancient, but not lefs erroneous, opi¬ 
nion. The contrary is moft direCtly and exprefsly held 
in the Statutum Wallix, in Briton, Fleta, the Mirror, and 
18 Edw. II. (which ftatute, though it enumerates certain 
particulars of the jurifdiCtion of the leet, does not con¬ 
fine it to them only ;) all much older and better authori¬ 
ties than the book of affifes, 41 Edw. III. p. 40. in which 
that opinion firft appears.. 
The fteward of a leet may award to prifon, perfons ei¬ 
ther indiCted or accufed of felony before him, or guilty 
of any contempt in the face of the court. Seat. Wefm. 2. 
c. 13. which however feems to apply only to the Iheriff’s 
tourn. Cromp. J. P. 92 b. Ow. 113. The court-leet has 
been for a long time in a declining way ; its bufinefs as 
well as that of the tourn having for the moft part gradu¬ 
ally devolved on the quarter feflions. eifComm. 374. 3 Burr. 
1864. 
COURT 
