220 THE MANOR COURT
again at the next Court. It was not only that men who had fled
from the manor could not be brought back, but even when serf-
tenants were concerned, the power of the Court seems often to
be curiously feeble. Men forget to clear away nuisances, or to
replace boundary stones, or to mend their ruinous houses, and
the bailiff complacently reports this at the next Court, and once
again they are ordered to do so. And so it goes on, till they act—
or until the bailiff tires—we do not know which.1
Thirdly, the clever man could avoid making any very definite
answer for a long time. At the head of most rolls come the
essoins such as "Simon Francis [essoins himself] against John
of Senholt in a plea of trespass for the third time by Odo of
Mursley. Faith pledged'*.2 From this entry we see that Simon
has managed to absent himself from three courts, and for so long
the unfortunate John has had no remedy. At the next court,
however, Simon must appear, or his pledge Odo of Mursley
will be in trouble. Some men did not even trouble to make
essoins, but put off coming from court to court without ap-
parently being judged in default. Certainly the practice varied
enormously from manor to manor, but there remains a general
impression of dilatory, capricious and uncertain action.
But, whatever weaknesses we may detect, the Manor Courtwas
not entirely useless, nor merely a means whereby the lord
could amerce and punish his peasants. It was also a great barrier
against violent changes of policy. On its rolls from time to time
was entered some new interpretation, or some new item con-
cerning "the custom of the manor", or the findings of the jury
as to the liability of the homage to render such and such dues, or
their determinations as to the bounds of the lord's acres and their
own, etc. True it was not a Court of Record that would be
recognised by the King's justices,3 but it was a true court of
record so far as the serf was concerned, and constantly he was
ready to pay for a search of the rolls to be made so that the truth
or falsity of his claim might be established.4 When he came into
court to take over or to render up some piece of land, not only
1 Olympian, 56; Maitland, Collected Papers, II, 377; Banstead, 139 n. 4;
V.CJI. Middlesex, n, 80; V.CJI. Berks, II, 179.
4 Selden Soc. n, 6. 8 See above, p. 198.
* Hales Rolls, 78, 79, 219, 320; Wynslowe Rolls, 40, 56, 6 a, etc.