ned there since the last eyre. All
boroughs had to send twelve burgesses who were to indict any
burgesses suspected of breaking the royal law. Every crime, every
invasion of royal rights, and every neglect of police duties was
to be presented and tried. Suspects were held in gaol until their
cases could be heard and gaol breaks were common. Punishment after
trial was prison for serious crimes, expulsion from the realm for
less serious crimes, and pledges for good behavior for lesser
crimes. The visitation of these justices was anticipated with
trepidation. In 1237, the residents of Cornwall hid in the woods
rather than face the itinerant justices.

Royal coroners held inquests on all sudden deaths to determine
whether they were accidental or not. If not, royal justices held
trial. They also had duties in treasure trove and shipwreck cases.

Justices of assize, justices of the peace, and itinerant justices
operated at the county level. The traditional county courts had
lost much jurisdiction to the royal courts and were now limited to
personal actions in causes involving usually no more than 40s.
There were pleas of trespass and debt, unjust seizure and
detention of beasts, rent collection, claims of fugitive villeins
and their goods, nuisances, and encroachments. The sheriff still
constitutes and conducts the court. The county court met every
three or four weeks, usually in the sheriff's castle located in
the chief borough of the county, but some met in the open air.

Twice a year the sheriff visited each hundred in the county to
hold a turn [court for small offenses, such as encroachment of
public land, brewing and baking contrary to government
regulations, and use of dishonest weights and measures.]. Everyone
who held freehold land in the hundred except the greater magnates
had to attend or be fined for absence. The sheriff annually viewed
frankpledge, in which every layman without land that could be
forfeited for felony, including villeins, were checked for being
in a tithing, a group of neighbors responsible for each other's
good conduct. This applied to every boy who had reached the age of
twelve. He had to swear on the Bible "I will be a lawful man and
bear loyalty to our lord the King and his heirs, and I will be
justiciable to my chief tithing man, so help me God and the
saints." Each tithing man paid a penny to the sheriff.

The hundred court decided cases of theft, viewing of boundaries of
land, claims f