“As concerning the election of sheriffs,—the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen and Commons, are to be assembled on the day of Saint Matthew the Apostle [September 21], in such manner as is ordained on the election of the Mayor; and in the first place, the Mayor shall choose of his own free will, a reputable man, free of the City, to be one of the Sheriffs for the ensuing year; for whom he is willing to answer as to one-half of the ferm of the City due to the King, if he who is so elected by the Mayor shall prove not sufficient. But if the Mayor elect him by counsel and with the assent of the Aldermen, they also ought to be answerable with him. And those who are elected for the Common Council, themselves, and the others summoned by the Mayor for this purpose, as before declared, shall choose another Sheriff, for the commonalty; for whom all the commonalty is bound to be answerable as to the other half of the ferm so due to the King, in case he shall prove not sufficient. And if any controversy arise between the commons as to the election, the matter is to proceed and be discussed in such manner as is contained in the article upon the ‘Common Council’ in the 13th Chapter of this First Book.
And if any one of those then chosen to be Sheriffs shall refuse or absent himself, so as not to be ready at the Guildhall in the Vigil of Saint Michael next ensuing, at ten by the clock, there to receive his charge, there shall be levied forthwith from the goods, lands, and tenements of him who so absents himself, one hundred pounds; one-half to the use of the Chamber, and the other half to the use of him who shall be then suddenly elected and charged by reason of such default. And if the second person elected shall refuse the charge, all his goods, lands, and tenements, shall be arrested, for all expenses touching that office.
And the old Sheriffs shall come to the Guildhall, at eleven by the clock at the very latest, and shall deliver to the Mayor (at the latest, at the Mayor’s general Court that is held after the Feast of the Epiphany) all records of pleas touching freeholds pleaded before them in their time, with all other memoranda touching recoveries suffered by any person, under a penalty of one hundred shillings, to be levied from each of them and to be paid to the use of the Chamber. To do which, the Mayor shall warn them the day on which they shall receive their charge. And then the Mayor shall deliver the Cocket[12] to such Sheriff as he himself shall have chosen, and the records to the Chamberlain for safe custody.” (Liber Albus, Riley’s translation, pp. 39-40.)
The following was the oath of the Sheriffs:—
“You shall swear, that you shall be good and true unto N, the King of England, and his heirs, and the franchise of the City of London you shall save and maintain, within the City and without, according to your power; and that well and lawfully you shall keep the Counties of London and of Middlesex, and the offices which unto the same Counties appertain to be done, well and lawfully you shall do, according to your wit and power; and that right you shall do as well to poor as to rich; and that no good custom you shall break, or evil one maintain. And that the assizes of bread, and of ale, and all other assizes which unto you pertain, within the franchise of the City and without, well and lawfully you shall keep and shall cause to be kept. And that the judgments and executions of your Court you shall not delay without reasonable cause, nor any right disturb; and that the Writs which unto you shall come, touching the state and the franchise of the City, you shall not return before you have shown them unto the Mayor, for the time being, and unto the Council of the City, and of them have advice. And that ready you shall be, at reasonable warning of the Mayor, for keeping and maintaining the peace and state of the City. And that all other things which pertain unto your office and the keeping of the said Counties, lawfully you shall do, by you and yours, and the said City shall keep from harm, according to your wit and power. And that the County of Middlesex or the keeping of the Gaol of Newgate you shall not let to ferm.—So God you help, and the Saints.” (Liber Albus, pp. 266-267.)
When the Sheriffs were sworn all their servants had to take oath: their serjeants, clerks, valets, bailiffs of the customs and of Middlesex, and the gaoler of Newgate and his clerk; and the same day the Sheriffs were to go to Newgate and to take over the prisoners there; observe, by the terms of their oath, that they were not allowed to let the gaol “to ferm” nor the County of Middlesex.
Other officers were the Recorder, who was to be, on appointment, a barrister of less than sixteen years’ standing, the Chamberlain, the Common Serjeant-at-Law, and the Common Clerk. And there were inferior officers, clerks and serjeants.
Leaving the officers, John Carpenter goes on to show how the Barons and the community must behave towards the King and his Justiciars: in other words, he speaks of the method of receiving the King’s Writs and the Pleading of the Pleas of the Crown. Let us pass over these points, which are curious to the antiquary, and come to the methods of hearing criminal cases:—
“It is to be observed that, in accordance with the ancient liberties and customs of the City of London, there are three purgations in Pleas of the King’s Crown, by means whereof persons appealed, charged, and accused, are in duty bound to acquit themselves. The first of these is employed in cases of homicide or murder; such purgation being called the ‘Great Law.’ The second kind of purgation bears reference to mayhem, and is known as the ‘Middle Law.’ The third purgation is employed in cases of assault, battery, rapine, wounding, blows, bloodshed, and other injuries of a like nature, inflicted at the season of Our Lord’s Nativity and in the weeks of Easter and Pentecost; such purgation being styled the ‘Third Law.’
When a person is bound to clear himself by the Great Law, the mode of proceeding according to such law is as follows:—He who is so appealed, charged and accused, has to make oath in his own behalf six times, in his own proper person; to the effect, that is to say, on each occasion, that he is innocent and guiltless of felony and breach of the peace of his lord the King, as also of all crime so laid to his charge,—‘So God may help him and those holy Gospels.’ After this, six men are to make oath that, to the best of their conscience and understanding, the oath that he has so sworn is a sound oath and a safe,—‘So God may help them and those holy Gospels.’ And this proceeding shall be repeated until the number of six-and-thirty jurors is exhausted; due care being taken that on each occasion the person accused makes oath first, in form before stated, and then, after him, six men, until the number before mentioned is completed.
