After this, on the Nones (5) of August an edict was published in the City, that no one of the King’s household, nor any other person should take anything in the City, except at the will of the vendors; saving however unto his lordship the King his rightful prisage of wine, that is to say from every ship that owes full custom two tuns of wine at the price of forty shillings. And further that if anyone should presume to contravene the same and be convicted thereof, he should be immediately imprisoned. After this no one of the King’s officers, nor yet any of their people, took anything without soon after paying the vendor for the same: this however lasted for a short time only.
A.D. 1262
In this year ... the Mayor and citizens of London shewed unto Sir Philip Basset, Justiciar of England, and others of the Council of his lordship the King at Westminster, that the Constable of the Tower in contravention of their franchises, wished to arrest and seize vessels in the Thames before the Tower, and take prisage of corn and other things, before they had reached the wharf; further saying, that just then he had caused a vessel belonging to Thomas de Basings, laden with wheat, to be stopped before the Tower, and was for taking one hundred quarters therefrom, at a price by the quarter, two pence less than it would have sold for when brought ashore. To which the Constable made answer, that this he was quite at liberty to do, in behalf of his lordship the King; whereupon the citizens replied that attachments on the Thames pertain solely to the Sheriffs of London, seeing that the whole water of Thames belongs to the City from shore to shore, as far as the Newe Were; (close to Yantlet creek) as has been repeatedly shown....
They said also that his lordship the King takes no prisage of corn, before the vessel has reached the wharf, and that then he is to have the quarter of wheat at two pence less than it would sell for; and this only for the support of his own household. Also that neither the Constable nor any other person is to have prisage of corn, but that if he wishes to buy anything, he must buy it in the market of the City, like the citizens, and at the option of the vendor; and they entreated his lordship the King, that he would preserve their liberties....
LIQUID MEASURES. A.D. 1264
In this year it was provided at the Hustings, on the morrow of All Souls (2 November), that all measures by which wine, ale and other liquors are sold, should be of the same dimensions, the mouth of the gallon being ordered to measure four inches across (cf. 1273).
FISHING REGULATIONS. A.D. 1269
Be it remarked that in ancient times it had been enacted and provided as to nets, used for fishing in the Thames, that in the body of such nets the meshes should be woven of such a size that a man’s thumb nail might be able wholly to pass through them; and that if in any net there should be found a single mesh otherwise woven, the whole of such net was to be condemned....
For which reason it was ... there were many nets seized and brought to the Guildhall, and there by twelve sworn men of the City, who had no share in the said nets, adjudged to be in contravention of the statutes aforesaid. But as to this decision some of the citizens thought differently; and in fact there were some who said, that that part only ought to be burnt which was faulty and unfair, and that the other parts which were good and lawful ought to be saved; while on the other hand, the City, in meeting of its commons, pronounced that a net, a part of which is bad, is bad all over....