152 The Period of Constitution Making
step was to obtain from the king a special form of writ
applying only to that particular action. There were also
writs suitable for opening each of the proprietary actions
over which the king's court was getting control. A pro-
prietary action for land, the commonest and most import-
ant, was begun by the writ of right or the writ pracipe.
As actions became regular and frequent, their appropriate
writs became stereotyped; but as new actions passed under
the jurisdiction of the king's court, new writs were made
to suit them, which, in the course of time, became stereo-
typed also. These regular writs were known as writs of
course. Writs were sold and became an important source
of royal revenue; many people were willing to pay for the
better law and procedure of the king's court. The draw-
ing up and issuing of writs was an important function,
which, already in the twelfth century was an important
part of the work of the king's secretariat, the Chancellor
and his staff.* Every civil case tried in the royal courts
originated with the purchase of the appropriate writ;
hence these writs have become known as original writs to
distinguish them from writs issued for any purpose after
the actions had begun.2 The manufacture of new writs by
the Chancery was, under a strong king, an adaptable and
efficient means of extending the royal jurisdiction.3 In
this lies the great importance of the original writ in the
judicial history of the twelfth and early thirteenth cen-
turies.
1	See below, pp. 312, 313.
2	In the thirteenth century there grew a large class of writs known as
writs of trespass.   This was because civil wrongs, "torts," were regarded
as falling within the limits of a breach of the king's peace.   "Any wrongful
application of force, however slight, can be said to be made vi et armis et
contra pacem domini Regis.1'    For illustration, see Maitland, C. H. £.,
pp. 113, 114.
3	"The metaphor which likens the chancery to a shop is trite; we will
liken it to an armory.   It contains every weapon of medieval warfare from
the two-handed sword to the poniard. The man who has a quarrel with his
neighbour comes thither to choose his weapon.   The choice is large; but
he must remember that he will not be able to change weapons in the middle
of the combat and also that every weapon has its proper use and may be
put to none other.    If he selects a sword, he must observe the rules of
sword-play; he must not try to use a cross-bow as a mace."—P. and M.,
ii, 561.