And by a charter of the following year granted to foreign merchants then resident in England, it was ordained, “that one weight shall be kept in every fair and town; that the weigher shall show the buyer and seller that the beam and scales are fair, and that there shall be only one weight and measure in our dominions, and that they be stamped with our standard mark.” All students of history, know how well this ordinance has been observed!
By the Statute of Wynton [Winchester] attributed to the reign of Edw. I., but probably of earlier date it is enacted (c. 6) “And the King commandeth and forbiddeth that from henceforth neither Fairs nor markets be kept in the Church-yards for the Honour of the Church.”[6]
1321. About this date—reign of Edw. II.—there is supposed to have been enacted “Articles of the Office of Escheatry.” Amongst the duties of this officer of the crown, he was to hold inquest (inter alia) of markets, fairs, tolls, passage-monies, and customs, unjustly levied without license of the King; also where, when, and from what time, and how much they are worth by the year. Under the power so granted various inquisitions regarding fairs, and the tolls charged, and the privileges asserted, were conducted.
CHAPTER IV.
COURTS OF PIEPOWDER.
These have been already referred to, and will arise in various other parts of this work, as being closely associated with fairs.
These Courts, designated in the Latin tongue curia pedis pulverizati, in the Old French pied puldreaux, alike in each case, it is supposed, in reference to, or as typical of the dusty feet of the suitors. Some indeed say because “justice is there done as speedily as dust can fall from the feet.” But without reference to such fanciful derivations they may be spoken of as a rough-and-ready mode of administering justice at fairs, markets, &c. There is no record or ordinance by which any such Court was called into existence in this country. They came to us with fairs; they passed away with the decay of the commercial usages of fairs.
Those curious in matters of archæology may consult a paper hereon by Dr. Pettingall, which appears in “Archæologia,” i. pp. 190-203.