2o8 THE MANOR COURT
by their ruling, and in their presence, it was delivered up to
him. What, then, is meant by the term tota curia* It cannot mean
anything but all those present owing suit of court, whether bond
or free. When a verdict is wanted from free men they know how
to ask for it, and it is enrolled as such. "Omnes libere tenentes
dicunt per suum sacramentum quod...'*,1 or "Ad magnam
curiam per sacramentum liberorum hominum inquiratur de
concelamento villatarum de Oldebure... ".2 On the other hand
a verdict of serfs is equally clearly indicated: *' Omnes nativi dicunt
de eorum consuetudine..." ;3 here it is a matter of the custom
of' the manor affecting serf-holdings, and this is not a matter
for "tota curia", but for "omnes nativi"—and the record
says so.
Tota curia may be expressed in the record in other ways: we
find it termed communitas totius manerii^ or tota communitas
ville,5 if it is meant to include everyone on the manor, just as it is
limited to tota villata de Romeslef or the like, if it is only the
inhabitants of one of the townships of the manor that is in
question. So strong was the prevailing opinion that the court
makes the dooms at Hales and elsewhere in the thirteenth
century, that we find decisions postponed if it is thought that
the court is not representative enough, or that it is too thinly
attended. As an example of the first we may take an entry of
1299: "Omnes homines tarn liberi quam nativi summoniantur
pro afforciamento [curiae] pro judicio reddendo de villata de
Oldebure que concelavit de tenemento quam W. Thedrich
tenuit de domino W. Fokeram."7 Here we see an attempt on the
part of the officials to get every member of the court present to
discuss the backsliding of the men of one of the vills. Again,
paucity of suitors often led to an adjournment. A good example
occurs in 1293 when four men were charged with defaults which
they denied, and placed themselves on the judgment of the
court. "Et quod [quia ?] curia tennis est judicium ponitur in
respectu usque ad proximam curiam. Et ideo tota curia sum-
moniatur pro affordamento" And in the margin "Judicium
1 Hales Rolls, 400 (1299). * Ibid. 409 (1300); and cf. 500.
8 Ibid. 460 (1302); and cf. 445 where a man puts himself "in veredictum
nativorum domini de proximioribus tenentibus".
* Ibid. 218. * Ibid. 14.
9 Ibid. 31, 509. 7 Ibid. 393.