THE "DOOMS" 207
serves as a jury of trial. Imitation of the royal courts seems to be
transfiguring it; the admission of trial by jury, of presentments by
jury, will hardly assort with the maintenance of the old principle that
"facere judicia" is the function of the suitors, with the old rule,
"Curia domini debet facere judicium et non dorninus.>a
There can be no doubt that Maitland was right in his general
conclusions, and that slowly the legal position of the villein was
being debased by one means or another. But, at least till the end
of the thirteenth century, we have good reason to see him still as
the maker of dooms hi his Manor Court. The actual terminology
of the Court Rolls is often not so clear as we could wish, and we
are often forced to interpret what was at best a brief statement
only meant to put on record the findings of the court. Much that
was common practice in the court is abbreviated or omitted, and
we have to reconstruct from very imperfect data. Nevertheless,
it is worth making the attempt—incomplete and hazardous
though it must be. To begin with, an examination of any
thirteenth-century rolls shows the scribes constantly speaking of
the decision of the court in such a way that all present are
clearly indicated. At Hales, for example, entries such as "per
•considerationem curie"2 tell us very little that is definite, but we
come a little closer when we read that "Dicit tota curia quod
Edithia quondam uxor Henrici Trappe fidelis est et immunis ab
omni culpa latrocinii et ideo consideravit tota curia quod recuperat
terram suam post diem et annum. "3 Here it is clear that it is the
whole body of the suitors who give what we should call the
verdict, and also go on to give judgment, and it is worthy of
note that the scribe reporting the proceedings thought so too,
for in the margin, against the proceedings, he puts the word
"Judicium".
Take another example: " W. de T. venit et petit unam vaccam
fuscam que inventa fuit in custodia domini de adventicio et
probavit earn suam esse et suum esse catallum sexta manu. Et
ideo per considerationem totius curie et in presentia eiusdem
predicta vacca ei liberata fuit."4 Here W. de T., by the oaths of
six persons, convinced the whole court that the cow was his, and
1 Op. cit. Ixviii, quoting Murdmenta Gildhallae, i, 66.
2 Hales Rolls, 41.
3 Ibid. 57; cf. 17, 35, 28, 54, 56, 60, etc.
* Ibid. 403 (1300).