Table of Manuscripts that Contain Registers of Writs

Table of Categories of Writs Within the Registers

We have prepared three tables summarizing the contents of 55 of the 58 manuscripts in the HLS collection of manuscript statute books and registers of writs.¹ This table attempts to organize the writs in the registers of writs. A separate table lists the contents of the statutes that are in S.R. and a third table summarizes the contents of the manuscripts that are neither registers of writs or statutes in S.R.

¹ HLS MS 172, a single-sheet ‘sheriff’s copy’ of Magna Carta, does not yet have a report; HLS MS 193, a collection of some writs and counts and extracts from treatises, but principally extracts from Year Books, has its own preliminary report, as does HLS MS No. 38, a register of judicial writs.

Twenty-three manuscripts in our collection contain registers of writs. One of them (MS 38) is a register of judicial writs, the contents and arrangement of which is quite different from the twenty-two registers of original writs that are summarized here. The following table lays out the basic information about the remaining twenty-two: manuscript number, its approximate date, the size of its largest dimension in mm., the number of folios devoted to the register, whether or not it contains statutes in addition to the register, the number of writs that it contains (derived from the Analysis of Writs that accompanies the report on each manuscript, using both the larger and the smaller numbers), and whether or not it is complete (with an asterisk where what is missing seems to be substantial).

Two conclusions can be drawn directly from the table: First, in the reigns of Edward I and Edward II, statute books and registers of writs were frequently combined. After the reign of Edward II, no such manuscripts are found. Second, taking into account both the physical size of manuscript and the number of folios devoted to the register: beginning with the reign of Edward III, registers tend to get bigger. In 1325, we have two easily portable registers of writs. There are none after that. (MS 53 is quite small in two dimensions, but it is quite thick.) The two phenomena would seem to be related. The number of writs that might be included in a register tripled over the course of the reign of Edward III. (The number statutes that could be included in statute-book also greatly increased.)

MS 22 seems to be an exception to the general rule that registers get bigger as time goes on. It has about half the writs that its contemporaries have and has only 100 more writs than does MS 52, which dates from 125 years earlier. As the report on MS 22 shows, however, MS 22, in the state in which we now have it, is probably missing about half of its original contents.

A more genuine exception is MS 184, which has only slightly more writs than do registers that date from the middle of the reign of Edward I, but is datable toward the end of the reign of Edward II. We speculate in the report on this manuscript that it was designed for an attorney, perhaps one who was engaged in a manorial administration, and who wanted a complete law library between two covers, and was not particularly concerned that the register was quite out-of-date.

The precision of the table belies considerable underlying imprecision. In some cases, the dates are quite approximate; in some cases they are reasonably certain. The Introduction to the report on each manuscript gives the details. The number of writs is based on a count of the writs noted in the margin (or, in one case, in the headings [MS 49] and, in another, in the index [MS 33]). Most manuscripts have a full set of marginalia, but some do not. In particular, what we have sometimes called the ‘administrative’ section at the end of some of the later registers often lacks marginalia or a full set of marginalia. Hence, it is likely that our total of 17,168 writs in the smaller count, undercounts the number of writs that are actually there.

With over 17,000 writs, listing them all is out of the question. The basic search engine will return the names of writs that appear in the headers or in the marginalia of the registers. The marginalia, however, have been transcribed directly from the Latin and have not been edited. They are frequently abbreviated, and the abbreviations have often not been extended. Thus, some experimentation in necessary to get all the ‘hits’, but it seemed the best way to give access to this large amount of data. There is a special search engine that searches the data in the massive table at the end of this page.

What we do undertake here is to summarize how the registers are organized. Derek Hall had already noted that by the time that we get to reign of Edward I, perhaps even late in the reign of Henry III, registers of writs were organized into groups of writs that were thought in some sense to go together. These groups were quite different from Hall’s own conceptual organization of the writs. The groups tended to remain relatively stable even though their position might move around as other groups were added. (The analogy to the perptual edict of the Roman praetor is marked.) Some writs were in groups where they did not seem to belong, but if they were there in a number of registers, they tended to remain there, probably because that was where a user of the register would look for them. There do, however, seem to be general conceptual relationships among the writs in the different groups. The writ of right and its satellites will always be at the beginning. Novel disseisin and mort d’ancestor will be found together, but they will not be found with utrum and darein presentement. Trespass will frequently be found in conjunction with crime.

With this in mind we organized the Summary Contents for each of the registers into categories suggested by the way that groups of writs were organized in register. We were interested, however, not only in how we perceived the categories but also when, and to what extent, contemporaries perceived these categories and articulated them. Hence, each of the Summary Contents tables has a somewhat different set of categories based on whether we were imposing our own preconceived scheme on the material or were gettting it from evidence in the register itself independent simply of the order of the writs in the register. We found some evidence fairly early-on in the headers in those registers that had them that our scheme was perceived by contemporaries (e.g., MS 24).

What we found in the early 15th century was particularly encouraging. Here we found manuscripts with a large number of writs that contemporaries seemed to be grouping as we had been grouping registers from an earlier period where we had less clear evidence that our scheme was in anyone’s mind but our own. MS 27 and 26 are particularly good examples. A 15th-century indexer applied this scheme to a manuscript from the end of the reign of Edward II (MS 28). The same scheme worked well with a manuscript from the mid-14th century (MS 45), where the headers provided some clues, but not as many as those given by the 15th-century indexer to the earlier manuscript. In some cases we took a scheme right out of manuscripts that showed less capacity to generalize, but did show some. The 249 categories of MS 34 is a lot fewer than than the 1591 writs in the manuscript, just as the 93 categories in MS 25 is a lot fewer than the 1051 writs in the manuscript.

For the summary here, we do something a bit different. We have created a series of standardized categories. We begin by outlining what they are likely to contain, and then list their presence in each register, with the approximate proportion of space devoted to each of them.

Right: All of our registers where the first folio is not missing begin with a writ right patent. All of our registers, once more except those that are deficient at the beginning, follow the writ of right patent and its variants with writs connected with the actions on writs of right but are not themselves writs of right. One is reminded of the organization of Glanvill, which outlines a whole lawsuit in the central royal courts in the manner of an ordo iudiciarius following what Glanvill calls the ‘writ of first summons’. MS 34 has the largest list of what might be included in this section:

Breve de recto patens
Ordo ponendi particulas
De recto maiori et vicecomitibus Londonie; Aliter de recto
De attornato faciendo coram iusticiariis; Supers’ maiori et vicecomitibus Londonie
Breve de inhibicione Ballivis Regis ne procedant; De attornato amovendo et alio substituto
De recto de dote; De recto de racionabili parte; Aliter quando partem habet et partem non
Ne iniuste vexes; Breve vicecomiti quando dominus remisit Curiam suam
Precipe in capite
Supersedeas Iustic’ cum quis petat Curiam suam
Recordari de recto
De errore in Comitatu Cestrie
Prohibicio de recto quando tenens posuit se in magnam assisam
De magna assisa eligenda; Attachiamentum quando ballivi tenueant placitum post prohibicionem; De videndo infirmum post essonium de malo lecti
De licencia surgendi
De recto secundum consuetudinem manerii; Attachiamentum quando dominus sive ballivi recusant tenere Curiam suam
Quod vicecomes videat quod plena iusticia exhibiatur; De racionabili iudicio habendo
Procedendo in brevi de recto; Recordari secundum consuetudinem maneriI
Supersedeas quando tenens vocavit forinsecum ad Warentum
Attachiamentum quia processerunt pendente placito Warentie; De certificando si loquela sit discontinuata
De adnullando fine de tenementis que sunt de antiquo dominico
Monstraverunt de antiquo dominico corone
De antiquo dominico; De falso iudicio
De errore in assisa frisce forcie
De errore in assisa etc’; De supersedendo pendente placito de errore
De execucione iudicii
De Waranta servicii Regis
De Waranta servicii Regis; De attornato coram iusticiariis itinerantibus
De generali attornato
Proteccio cum clausula volumus
Revocacio proteccionis; Revocacio revocacionis proteccionis
De certiorando utrum sit profectus in obsequio Regis
De non molestando contra proteccionum; De arestando qui recepit pecuniam Regis ad proficissend’ in eius servicio et non est profectus
De attornato sine brevi et cum breve

Writs of right, including recordari
Writs of right: De recto secundum consuetudinem manerii
Writs of right: De falso iudicio
Writs of attorney, including writs of protection
Writs of attorney: De attornato ad loquelam prosequendam sine brevi

The 15th-century medieval index that seems to have been provided at Titchfield Abbey for MS 28, adds ‘De execucione iudicii’ between ‘De falso iudicio’ and ‘Writs of attorney’.

Illustrative of the fact that writs tended to remain in the same place even when different, and from a modern point of view better, organizational schemes emerged is the fact that the writ of right of dower tended to remain where it was, even when a separate section about dower emgerged. MS 28, 39, and 184 do, however, have it the separate dower section.

Ecclesiastical. With the exception of MS 60, which is defective at the beginning but does not seem to have included this section, all of our registers follow the section on right with a section that we have called ‘Ecclesiastical’. Once more, MS 34 has the fullest account of what might be in it:

De recto de advocacione
Assisa ultime presentacionis
Quare Impedit
Ne admittat
Quare non admisit
Quare non admisit; Quare incumbravit
Breve de utrum
Prohibicio ne teneant placita que spectant ad coronam
Indicavit
Consultaciones
De non residencia
Ne quis trahatur in causam extra regnum
De vi laica ammovenda
Ad iura regia
De excommunicato capiendo
De excommunicato liberando
De terris ten’ bonis etc’ clerici purgati restituendis
De extracto ab ecclesia restituendo
Commissio de excommunicato capiendo ad certificacionem arcidiaconi

Ecclesiastical writs: Basic
Ecclesiastical writs: Prohibition
Ecclesiastical writs: Consultation
Ecclesiastical writs: In favor of royal clerks
Ecclesiastical writs: Royal rights
Ecclesiastical writs: De excommunicato capiendo

The basic group is Right of advowson, Darein presentement, Quare impedit, Ne admittat, Quare non admisit, Quare incumbravit. To these, quite understandably, our earliest registers add prohibitions. To these ultimately were added writs that protected royal clerks from the penalties for non-residence, prerogative rights in royal advowsons, and De excommunicato capiendo. In terms of their forms, these writs are quite different: right of advowson is praecipe writ; darein presentement is a petty assize, and so on. The first group concerns advowsons; prohibition sometimes does; de excommunicato capiendo never does. What they all have in common is that they deal with the church, and most of them deal with church proceedings.

Ecclesiastical addition. Unlike Ecclesiastical, this group, if it appears at all, always appears towards the end of the register and after formedon. It appears in our earliest manuscript (MS 33), where it contains a group of ecclesiastical writs that are normally found in the first ecclesiastical category, e.g., Quare non admisit and Quare incumbravit. These are mixed in in MS 33 with trespass. Later manuscripts have a separate category for trespass and include, as we just said, Quare non admisit and Quare incumbravit in the large ecclesiastical category at the beginning. An Ecclesiastical addition at the end is also found in later manuscripts (e.g., MS 155, 23, 27, 26). Unlike MS 33, however, it tends to cover writs concerning the royal administration of benefices, e.g., writs of presentation, where the king holds the advowson. The writs are adminstrative in the sense that there is no suggestion that the king’s right is disputed. The writ simply shows how the king does it.

Waste. In some of the early registers (e.g., MS 36) waste appears mixed in with ecclesiastical. What it is doing there is hard to tell. Perhaps, it was orginally associated with dower, which, as we have seen, sometimes appears in the Right section. It clearly emerges as a separate category in MS 24, and follows ecclesiastical, though it is not found as a separate catgegory in all the registers. It almost always includes De estreppamento, and it sometimes includes De particione facienda.

Replevin is found as a separate category in our earliest register (MS 33). It normally includes much more than replevin, as we understand it. Here is the list of writs from MS 34:

De homine replegiando
De replegiando
Recordari in comitatu
De recapcione averiorum
De nativis habendis
De scutagio habendo
De tallagio habendo
De moderata misericordia

The section, then, is a general one about rights of lordship, and, more specifically, about abuse of those rights.

Trespass and criminal. The two are frequently, although not always, associated. The list of writs from MS 34 is typical:

De minis
De trans’ coram vicecomite
De trans’ coram iusticiariis
Supersedeas pro clericis et servientibus Cancellarii
Supersedeas de trans’ vi et armis in comitatu placitatis
De trans’ tam pro Rege quam pro parte
De trans’ quia amisit servicium servient’
De decepcione
De parco fracto
De trans’ de rescussu
Recordari in trans’
Trans’ alicui in proteccione Regis facta
Attincta de trans’ coram Rege ad certum diem
Attincta coram Rege
De errore corrigendo
De conspiracione
De odio et atia

The criminal part is normally quite short. In MS 34, it is represented only by De minis at the beginning, and De conspiracione and De odio et atia at the end, none of which is, strictly speaking, criminal. One of our earliest registers (MS 39, fol. 84v), however, has De recordo iusticiariis assignatis ad gayolam deliberandam, De ponendo per ballivum de eodem, De appello de morte hominis, De raptu, and De appello coram rege amovendo. In a few registers (e.g. MS 24), writs like these can be greatly elaborated.

In MS 34, and in many other registers, trespass is elaborated. We might think of De rescussu as belonging with replevin, but it is found here under trespass, and MS 34 is not alone in putting it there. Like novel disseisin, which we consider below, trespass frequently is accompanied by writs reviewing results in trespass actions, here attaint and error.

Even where trespass is elaborated, it never seems to include actions on the case. We cannot be completely sure of this statement; we have not examined every trepass writ. Certainly writs in actions on the case are not common, and they are never noted as such in the headers or in the indices. It is sometimes said that actions on the case were not considered as a separate category until Fitzherbert’s Nouvel natura brevium in the early 16th century. We have found nothing so far that would lead us to doubt that statement.

Criminal is normally after trespass. In MS 22 it appears after replevin and before trespass. In MS 39, it is after replevin and before rights in land in a manuscript that has no trespass. In MS 28, writs concerning criminal matters are scattered in other categories. In MS 60, it appears twice, briefly at the end of trespass (de odio et atia), and then quite fully after escheat and before entry.

In most registers the sections outlined above are reasonably clear and in that order, although many have writs within those sections that do not ‘belong’ there. What appears after that group varies considerably among the registers and is less subject to broad groupings. There are two other groupings that appear at, or toward, the end of all of the complete registers that are best treated before we consider the variable middle group.

Novel disseisin and Mort d’ancestor. Once more, the list in MS 34 is helpful in describing what may be found here, though all of these writs do not always appear in this group elsewhere:

Assisa nove disseisine
Assisa nove disseisine de nocumento
Parva brevia nove disseisine coram vicecomite; Quod permittat
De nocumento coram iusticiariis de Banco
De certificactione capienda
De associacione in assisis
Si non omnes
Commissiones Iusticiariis in assisis et certificacionibus
Attincta
De redisseisina
De postdisseisina
Attincta in redisseisina
De recordo et processu de reddissina et postdisseisina mittendis
De certiorando recordam
De certiorando; Breve iusticiariis de iudicio reddendo
De recordo et processu coram novis iusticiariis ad assis’ capiend’ habend’
De cartis in Curia positis deliberandis
De exonerando tenentem de dampnum [sic] in assisis
De recordo coram aliis iudicibus mittendis
De recordo mittendis ad errorem corrigendum
De prosedendo ad assisam
De continuando assisam quia plene non certioratur
De mittendo recordum omnium assisarum coram uno Iusticiario et aliis de novo constitutis
Quod assisa de ten’ infra libertatem non capiatur per forinsecos
De continuando assisam
De assisa proroganda; De presentacione facta in turno vicecomitis mittend’ causa erroris coram Rege
De decepcione versus eum qui protulit falsum breve pro Warent’ de servicio domini Regis; Quod nullus solvat dampna in assisa nisi pro tempore quo fuit tenens
De manucapcione ad prosequendum errorem
De errore corigendo infra libertatem
Breve execucionis clerici Iustic’ de record’ mittend’; De prosedendo in assisa
De supersedendo Rege inconsulto; De tenore Rec’ Thes’ et Baron’ de scaccario extra Cancelleriam mittend’
De continuando attinctam; De non prosedendo de tenementis que sunt in custodia Regis
De non prosedendo Rege in consulto
Quod Iusticiarii procedant in placito
De execucione Iudicii
De execucione; De constituendo Iustic’ ad omnes assisas
Si non omnes; De coniunctis in attincta deliberandis; Quod iusticiarii inquirant de fraude ubi aliquis tulerit breve versus iuratos ut possit eos calumpniare
De supersedendo levacionis dampnorum; Supersedeas in assisa pro decepcione Regi facta
De prosedendo
Assisa mortis antecessoris
De avo proavo et consanguineo

The association of novel disseisin with nuisance is, of course, very old, and it is not surprising that nuisance writs are normally included here. What the list makes clear is that novel dissesin in some registers, like MS 34, became an occasion, like Right at the beginning, to consider all the process that might surround the action. Novel disseisin could proceed very quickly. The original notion seems to have been that if someone was dissatisfied with the result he or she could proceed in the right. What the list shows, among other things, is that quite elaborate procedures were developed to review the result in the assize, before, or in lieu of, proceeding on the right.

The relatively few writs under mort d’ancestor at the end of the list in MS 34 are typical. Normally this subsection gives only the basic writs: mort d’ancestor, aiel, besail, and cosinage.

Entry and Formedon. In MS 34:

Breve de manu Regis amovend’; De ingressu ad terminum qui preteriit
Ad terminum qui preteriit
Dum non fuit compos mentis
Dum fuit infra etatem
De ingressu super disseisinam
Attincta in brevi de ingressu
Attincta in brevi de ingressu; Supersedeas capcioni alicuius convicti in attincta post finem factam
Cui in vita
De intrusione post mortem tenentis in dotem
De intrusione post mortem tenentis per legem Anglie
De intrusione post mortem tenentis ad vitam
De ingressu pro tenente in dotem ad terminum vite et per legem Anglie ad communem legem
De ingressu in consimili casu
Cessavit
Forma donacionis in le descendere
Attincta in brevi in forma donacionis; Forma donacionis de properte in liberum matitagium
Forma donacionis in le reverti
Forma donacionis in le remanere

The earliest registers have not fully integrated writs of entry in the post nor have they come to grips with what Westminster II did to formedon. Once that became clear, the contents of this section remained relatively stable as did its position, though the number of different forms of the basic writs could vary considerably. The inclusion in MS 34 of intrusion among the writs of entry is typical. The inclusion in MS 34 of Cessavit between entry and formedon is quite common, though it is not always found there.

What appears between Trespass and Novel disseisin can frequently be as much as a quarter of the register, and is much less easy to classify. Our difficulty in classifying it was shared by those who wrote headers and indices for the registers. Like us, they had a tendency to break it down into quite small pieces. Here is how it is done in MS 34:

De compoto
De debito
De racionabile parte bonorum
Quod mulieres non distringantur pro debitis virorum
Supersedeas de placito debiti sine brevi de summa xl solidorum
De statuto stapule
De statuto mercatorio
Audita querela
De recognoscat’
De secta ad molendinum
De pontibus reparandis
De pontibus reparandis; De Curia claudenda; Quod permittat
Quod permittat; Quo iure exigit communam pasture
De amensuracione pasture; De secunda superoveracione pasture
De racionabilibus divisis; De perambulacione facienda
De warantia Carte; De plegiis acquietandis
Quod plegii non distringantur dum principalis sit sufficiens; De annuo redditu
De consuetudinibus et serviciis
De cartis reddendis
De medio
De custodia terre et heredis
De eieccione custodie
De Intrusione in hereditate per heredem infra etatem
De herede rapto et abducto
De forisfactura maritagii
De escaeta
De convencione
Dedimus potestatem ad finem levandum
De transcripto finis
De dote unde nichil habet
De Attincta in dote; De admensuracione dotis
Quod ei deforciat
Quod nullus placitetur sine brevi de libro ten’
De secta facienda per attornatum
De racionabili estoverio
Aliter de secta facienda contra formam feoffamenti
De secta facienda; De contribucione ad sectam facienda
De coronatore eligendo
De ministris amovendis
Quod vicecomes ponat in inquisicionibus de visum propinquiori
Quod Barones non ponantur in assisis
Quod quis non distringatur ad faciendas plures sectas
Quod coronator non ponatur in assisis; De chambipartia
De adnullando recognicionem per vim et duriciam factam
Quod districcio non fiat in via Regia; Quod districcio pro debitis Regis pro tempore relaxantur
Quod ministri Regis non exerceant victualia; Quod imprisont’ per statutum mercatorium habeant panem et aquam; Quod nichil levetur pro escapio latronum quousque adiudicetur
Quod nullus occasionetur de tenementis adquisitis que tenentur de honore; Quod nulla persona ecclesiastica amercietur secundum beneficium ecclesiasticum
Quod seneschalli et mareschalli non teneant placita extra virgam
Quod constabularii castri Dovor’ non teneant placitum forinsecum; Supersedeas de distr’ pro debito Regis usque certum diem
Quod iusticiarii procedant ad capcionem assise; Aliquo mandato non obstante
Supersedeas de nisi prius
De non veniendo ad turnum nisi bis in anno; De moderata misericordie
Quod misericordia ponatur per sacramentuum proborum hominum; Quod communia placita non teneantur in scaccario; Quod clerici infra sacros ordines non elegantur in officiis laicorum
Brevia taxatoribus et collectoribus de non molestando
Aliter Thesaurio et Baronum de scaccario
De falsis conformatoribus et procuratoribus duodenarum; De ambedextria
De manutentoribus placitoris
De alta via artata; Decies tantum versus iuratores
Decies tantum; De subvicecomite amovendo post annum
Ne capiantur fines pro pulcre placitando; De sigillis excepcionibus apponendis
De foristallatoribus victualium
Brevia de ordinacione versus servientem

This seeming jumble (which constitutes in this register only about 15% of the total) does have some fairly obvious subcategories. De compoto is, of course, Account, and is found, as it frequently is, right after the trepass/criminal section. De debito, De racionabile parte bonorum, Quod mulieres non distringantur pro debitis virorum, Supersedeas de placito debiti sine brevi de summa xl solidorum, De statuto stapule, De statuto mercatorio, Audita querela, and De recognoscat’ all concern Debt, broadly conceived. The only one that seems odd in this context is De racionabile parte bonorum. It contains two writs: Quod mulieres habeant racionabilem partem de bonis virorum and Aliter pro pueris, neither of which is common, and both of which seem to have been framed, at least in part, on the basis of the action of detinue. That, in turn, leads to the much more common writ Quod mulieres non distringantur pro debitis virorum.

Debt is followed by De secta ad molendinum, De pontibus reparandis, De Curia claudenda, Quod permittat, Quo iure exigit communam pasture, De amensuracione pasture and De secunda superoveracione pasture, a group that we have called, without contemporary warrant, Rights in land.

This is followed by a subgroup that is a decided jumble: De racionabilibus divisis, De perambulacione facienda, De warantia carte, De plegiis acquietandis, Quod plegii non distringantur dum principalis sit sufficiens, De annuo redditu, De consuetudinibus et serviciis, De cartis reddendis, De medio, De custodia terre et heredis, De eieccione custodie, De Intrusione in hereditate per heredem infra etatem, De herede rapto et abducto, De forisfactura maritagii, and De escaeta. De racionabilibus divisis and De perambulacione facienda both concern boundaries, and both involve situations where there is confusion about the boundary, rather than anyone’s having tried to alter it. Warranty of charter stands by itself without any close relation to the others. De plegiis acquietandis and Quod plegii non distringantur dum principalis sit sufficiens belong to our way of thinking with debt, and they are sometimes found there. They also, however, can be found in other registers where they are in MS 34. Annuity, customs and services, detinue of charters, and mesne are found in most of the registers, almost always someplace in middle, not always in this order and not always together (Miscellaneous writs concerning land). There follows a subsubgroup all of which concern wardship in one way or another: De custodia terre et heredis, De eieccione custodie, De intrusione in hereditate per heredem infra etatem, De herede rapto et abducto and De forisfactura maritagii. The subgroup closes with escheat.

De convencione, Dedimus potestatem ad finem levandum, and De transcripto finis follow. This is, of course, Covenant, and the association of covenant with fines is quite usual.

Attention in many registers, as in MS 34, then turns to dower: De dote unde nichil habet, De Attincta in dote, De admensuracione dotis, and Quod ei deforciat, the last also concerning dower.

The history of this jumbled subgroup seems to go back to the early registers where it is even more jumbled. In MS 34, and in a number of the later registers, account and debt are pretty clearly broken out. From a modern point of view covenant should follow; it is one of the ‘old personal actions’. It does follow debt in MS 24 and 28, but there it is separated from Account by Rights in land. What we have called Rights in land forms a distinct subgroup, frequently broken out, as it is here. MS 34 puts Annuity, customs and services, detinue of charters, and mesne together. From a modern point of view Wardship and Dower should go together, perhaps forming a part of a larger category that we might call Succession. That MS 34 puts Escheat at the end of Wardship suggests that such an idea may not have been too far the mind of its maker, but the presence of Covenant prevents this subgroup from being joined to Dower.

MS 34 does have a category that we called ‘Succession’. It separates Mort d’ancestor from Entry, and includes: Nuper obiit, De ventre inspicienda, Diem clausit extremum, Super modo et causa capcionis, Breve escatori de seisina liberanda, De extenta facienda, and De etate probanda. This is followed by De eieccione firme and Quare eiecit infra terminum before returning to a Breve escatori de inquisicione capiendo. Putting these writs in this place is very common and goes a long way back. It is found, for example, in MS 24, 52, 60, 61 (in part), 184, and 166. The early 15th-century registers MS 23, 27, and 26 show some, but not a complete, tendency to group these writs (except for ejectment) with Wardship and Dower. Just as the presence of Covenant seems in many cases to prevent the logical joining of Wardship with Dower, so too the presence of Ejectment, which appears between Mort d’ancestor and Entry in many registers, prevents what to us is the logical flow from Mort d’ancestor and Entry.

Writs on statutes. To return to the organization of MS 34: After dower, there follows a massive collection that MS 34 makes no attempt classify generally:

Quod nullus placitetur sine brevi de libro ten’
De secta facienda per attornatum
De racionabili estoverio
Aliter de secta facienda contra formam feoffamenti
De secta facienda; De contribucione ad sectam facienda
De coronatore eligendo
De ministris amovendis
Quod vicecomes ponat in inquisicionibus de visum propinquiori
Quod Barones non ponantur in assisis
Quod quis non distringatur ad faciendas plures sectas
Quod coronator non ponatur in assisis; De chambipartia
De adnullando recognicionem per vim et duriciam factam
Quod districcio non fiat in via Regia; Quod districcio pro debitis Regis pro tempore relaxantur
Quod ministri Regis non exerceant victualia; Quod imprisont’ per statutum mercatorium habeant panem et aquam; Quod nichil levetur pro escapio latronum quousque adiudicetur
Quod nullus occasionetur de tenementis adquisitis que tenentur de honore; Quod nulla persona ecclesiastica amercietur secundum beneficium ecclesiasticum
Quod seneschalli et mareschalli non teneant placita extra virgam
Quod constabularii castri Dovor’ non teneant placitum forinsecum; Supersedeas de distr’ pro debito Regis usque certum diem
Quod iusticiarii procedant ad capcionem assise; Aliquo mandato non obstante
Supersedeas de nisi prius
De non veniendo ad turnum nisi bis in anno; De moderata misericordie
Quod misericordia ponatur per sacramentuum proborum hominum; Quod communia placita non teneantur in scaccario; Quod clerici infra sacros ordines non elegantur in officiis laicorum
Brevia taxatoribus et collectoribus de non molestando
Aliter Thesaurio et Baronum de scaccario
De falsis conformatoribus et procuratoribus duodenarum; De ambedextria
De manutentoribus placitoris
De alta via artata; Decies tantum versus iuratores
Decies tantum; De subvicecomite amovendo post annum
Ne capiantur fines pro pulcre placitando; De sigillis excepcionibus apponendis
De foristallatoribus victualium
Brevia de ordinacione versus servientem

We described these writs in various ways in our summaries, taking out pieces of them and calling them ‘Local courts’, ‘Assizes’, ‘Suit of court’, ‘Coroners’. The final one, where it is identified, is almost always called ‘Statute of labourers’. (Obviously, it does not appear in any register prior to 1350.) These categories are not wrong, but they may miss the point. As early as MS 52 we encounter in the headers a category ‘Brevia de statutis’ (Writs on statutes). It is not applied to everything around it to which it might be applied, but it quite accurately describes a group of writs, frequently, though not always found together, as they are in MS 34. The category appears again in MS 60, where it is ‘De statutis’, in MS 166, where it is ‘Brevia de statuto’, and with increasing frequency thereafter. MS 34 represents a full development of the category. Even De racionabili estoverio, which might be thought to fit better with Rights in land, is, in fact, an implementation of Magna Carta (1225) c. 7. Some of the writs found in this group may not actually be implementations of specific statutory provisions more than they are understandings about how a procedure ought to work in the various courts and the goverment bodies that the statutes concern. It is this that distinguishes this group from other writs (e.g., formedon) that are also derived from statutes. The substance/procedure distinction is, of course, more our distinction that it was a distinction of those who wrote the registers, just as the distinction between common law and statute is more our distinction than theirs. It is hard, however, not to see anticipations of both distinctions in these categories.

There is one more major category in MS 34 and in all the registers after the middle of the 14th century. It can, however, only be described in the most general fashion: All the registers after the middle of the 14th century have a substantial proportion of their contents after formedon. Hence, we call the category simply Writs after formedon. This is one, although not the only, reason why the later registers are so much longer than the earlier ones. Many of the earlier registers also have something after formedon, but it is normally a very short, a miscellaneous collection of afterthoughts. (MS 39 is something of an exeption; it has a brief section after formedon that anticipates in its contents the kinds of items that will be in the later registers.)

Here is what MS 34 has after formedon:

De tenementis legatis in london
De tenementis legatis in London; De testamento probando secundum consuetudinem Civitatis
Ad quod dampnum
De essendo quietum de theolonio
De libertatibus allocandis
De corrodio
De annua pensione
De ydiota
De leproso amovendo
De viis et venellis inundandis
De rata porcionis onerand’
De nominacione ad ecclesiam sive dignitatem facta
De presentacione
De collacione
De revocacione
De ratificacione
Aliter de revocacione
Aliter de presentacione
Littere de excercendo iurisdiccionem ordinariam
Littera procuratoria ad resignandum
Forma resignacionis
De idemptitate nominis
De manucapcione
De supersedendo
De essendo coram consilio; De profro faciendo
De profro faciendo
De custumis
De navibus et aliis rebus arestatis
De navibus et aliis rebus arestatis; De bladis traducendis
De mensuris et ponderibus
Proteccio
Proteccio; De pontagio ad terminum concesso
Proteccio
De salvo et securo conductu
Aliter de essendo coram Rege et consilio seu in Cancellaria
Breve innotessimus ad proteccionem revocandam
De passagio
De deliberate
De cartis pacis
De recordo et processu certiorand’
Carte exempcionis
Carte utlagarie de trans’

Some larger categories can be perceived in this seeming hodge-podge: We begin with writs that concern burgage testaments of land: De tenementis legatis in london, De tenementis legatis in London, De testamento probando secundum consuetudinem Civitatis. Ad quod dampnum forms a category by itself, as do De essendo quietum de theolonio, which elsewhere we have called ‘Rights of those of lower status’, and De libertatibus allocandis. Corrodies (De corrodio) and pensions (De annua pensione) seem to go together. We would hesitate to combine De idiotis, De leprosis, and De viis et venellis were it not for the fact that they are found combined in a number of other registers. De rata porcionis onerand’ may be a one-off, but it may, considering that it involves religious houses, be related to what follows. What follows is clearly the ‘Ecclesiastical addition’ described above: De nominacione ad ecclesiam sive dignitatem facta, De presentacione, De collacione, De revocacione, De ratificacione, Littere de excercendo iurisdiccionem ordinariam, Littera procuratoria ad resignandum, and Forma resignacionis. De idemptitate nominis, De manucapcione, and De supersedendo would seem to form categories by themselves. What follows is somewhat jumbled. Scattered throughout the remaining writs are a number that concern review of judgments or the work of lower courts: De essendo coram consilio and De profro faciendo in one place, De essendo coram Rege et consilio seu in Cancellaria in another, and De recordo et processu certiorand’ in yet a third. Sandwiched in, there is a unit that concerns customs (on imports and exports): De custumis, De navibus et aliis rebus arestatis, and De bladis traducendis. Various writs of protection, Proteccio and Breve innotessimus ad proteccionem revocandam can be combined with similar writs, De salvo et securo conductu and De passagio, into a more general category of ‘Protection’. The one-off De pontagio ad terminum concesso is not, so far as we are aware, found elsewhere. The writs De mensuris et ponderibus are, however, found elswhere in this broad group, as are, occasionally, the writs that seem to be called here ‘De deliberate’, writs to the Exchequer ordering the payment of pensions to those to whom the King has granted them. The register closes with various forms of royal charters: Carte pacis, Carte exempcionis, and Carte utlagarie de trans’, which elsewhere can be a quite extensive section on ‘Pardons’, though the emphasis on pardons is less strong here.

The striking thing about all the writs in this large category is how many of them are ‘adminstrative’. There may be an underlying dispute, but that is not obvious, or even necessary, to understand the writ. As such, we suspect that they were of more interest to clerks than they were to practicing lawyers, a suspicion that is confirmed in some instances by what we know about the provenance of the manuscripts in which they were contained.

The table at the bottom of the page lists, roughly in chronological order, the registers that contain any of the following sixteen categories of writs, the possible contents of which are explained above.

 1 Right (De recto)
 2 Ecclesiastical (De advocacionibus, De prohibicionibus, De consultacionibus, De excommunicato capiendo)
 3 Waste (De vasto)
 4 Replevin (De replegiando)
 5 Trespass and Criminal (De trans’)
 6 Account (De compoto)
 7 Debt (De debito)
 8 Rights in land (including de secta ad molendinum, de pontibus reparandis, quod permittat)
 9 Miscellaneous writs concerning land (annuity, customs and services, detinue of charters, mesne, warranty of charter)
10 Succession (including dower, wardship, escheat)
11 Covenant (De convencione)
12 Writs on statutes (Brevia de statuto)
13 Novel Disseisin and Mort d’ancestor (De nova disseisina, De morte antecessoris)
14 Ejectment (Quare eiecit, Eiectio firme)
15 Entry and Formedon (De ingressu, De forma donacionis)
16 After formedon

The fact that a category is not listed for a particular register does not mean that that it does not contain any writs that might fall into the category. For example, as noted above, almost all the registers contain annuity, customs and services, detinue of charters, mesne, and warranty of charter. In order for something to be raised to the level of a category, it has to be marked as such or be so prominent in the register that we noted it.

The identification of the manuscript in the table is linked to the image of the first folio in which the category appears. It is followed by the inclusive folios in which the category appears and then, in parentheses, with the approximate number of writs in the category and the approximate proportion of the folios in the register devoted to it. The proportions can only be approximate, and the number of writs was calculated by multiplying the proportion by the total number of writs in the manuscript using the longer of the two counts. As a general matter, the number of writs in category 16 is likely to be exaggerated, since the writs in this category tend to be longer than those in the earlier portions of the register. A more precise figure for any given manuscript can be obtained by using the Analysis of Writs found in every report on a manuscript that has a register.

The notes point to the peculiarites of particular registers, e.g., where they divide a category. We have attempted in the notes to list the general subjects of the writs in category 16.