The 329
each, The of to be
in the records is enormous*
It should be noted in of
were playing a part in procedure, r. g, pledges,
essoiners, suit witnesses, seme of the prouf witnesses,
compurgators, who appear to have done so more or less
voluntarily. The methods of the time, per-
haps a kind of pressure—kinship, good neSghborli-
ness, the custom of the locality—drew them in. Any
thing, however cumbrous, which involved people not
officials pleased the king. He preferred pledges to making
good gaols and having gaolers. But in most the
most important of functions the were
under command. Much could be of the
bility and difficulty of many of the
juries, getting their own information, with
views, their judging of judging of law in to
give the categorical usually required, and their
not infrequent trips to London in units of twenty-four,
are familiar but not exceptional. The obscurer groups,
in many instances, did as much work took as
risks. The king's justices were but the
had to play the game.
Largely outside the realm of the courts were the
frequent extents, or surveys, on the by
means of manorial juries to verify the terms of the cus-
tomary tenures, the duty of nominating or electing man-
orial officers resting upon the inhabitants of the manor,
the obligation upon many of the lower
to purchase and possess armour under the Assize of Arms
and the possible militia service implied, to be sup-
plemented by watch and ward, and the duties of the
posse comitatns resting upon all over fifteen. The
obligations which men bore as members of the local
community, the vill, were many—the vilPs representation
on the presenting juries, at the eyre courts, and on cor-
oners* juries, and its hue and cry obligations are always
mentioned with those institutions; and in this connection