Sussex.
At Chichester, Sloe Fair was always proclaimed under the Canon Gate by the bishop’s steward eight days before the eve of St. Faith the Virgin, during which time the jurisdiction of the mayor ceased, and the bishop had power to collect, and did by his agent collect, the tolls of the market and fair. An instance is recorded (1702) in the annals of the corporation of the bishop claiming the keys of the city during the Piepowder Court. The bishop’s claim arose from a grant made as early as Henry I.—Dally, Chichester Guide, 1831, p. 24.
The bailiff of Seaford is annually elected on St. Michael’s Day. The freemen of the town having previously assembled at the Court Hall—leaving the jurats on the bench—retire to a certain spot at the gate-post of a field near the west end of the town, where the serjeant-at-mace of the body corporate nominates the chief magistrate for the ensuing year, who is then and there elected. This peculiar custom is supposed to have originated to prevent any influence on the part of the corporation magistrates (jurats), and to enable the freemen to make a free choice of their mayor.