r onto their prone bodies to persuade them to
plead. This then developed into being loaded with as much iron as
could be borne, and finally into being pressed to death ["peine
forte et dure"]. Many of these men chose to die by this pressing
so that their families could inherit their property, which would
have been forfeited if they had been convicted of serious crimes.

The most common cases in the Court of Common Pleas were "detinue"
[wrongful detention of a good or chattel which had been loaned,
rented, or left for safekeeping with a "bailee", but belonged to
the plaintiff], "debt" [for money due from a sale, for money
loaned, for rent upon a lease for years, from a surety, promised
in a sealed document, or due to arbitrators to whom a dispute had
been submitted] and "account" [e.g. against bailiffs of manors, a
guardian in socage, and partners]. It also heard estovers of wood,
profit by gathering nuts, acorns, and other fruits in wood, corody
[allowance of food], yearly delivery of grain, toll, tunnage,
passage, keeping of parks, woods, forests, chases, warrens, gates,
and other bailiwicks, and offices in fee.

The itinerant justices gradually ceased to perform administrative
duties on their journeys because landed society had objected to
their intrusiveness. Edward I substituted regular visitations of
justices of assize for the irregular journeys of the itinerant
justices. Each one of four circuits had two justices of assize.
>From about 1299, these justices of assize heard cases of gaol
delivery. Their jurisdiction expanded to include serious criminal
cases and breach of the king's peace.

Breaches of the forest charter laws were determined by justices of
the King's forest, parks, and chases, along with men of assize.

Coroners' inquest procedures were delineated by statute and
included describing in detail in the coroner's rolls every wound
of a dead body, how many may be culpable, and people claiming to
have found treasure who might be suspects.

The precedent for punishment for treason was established by the
conviction of a knight, David ab Gruffydd, who had turned traitor
to the Welsh enemy, after fighting with Edward and being rewarded
with land, during the conquest of Wales. He had plotted to kill
the King. He was found guilty of treason by Parliament and
condemned to be dragged at the heels of horses for being a traitor
to his knightly vows, hanged by the neck for his murders, cut down
before consciou