Note 607 — MAGNA CARTA. (continued 3)

Pike, House of Lords, 256–7, shows how barons were assessed sometimes—(a) before the barons of exchequer; or (b) before the full King’s Council; or (c) at a later date, even before the justices of Common Pleas. They were never assessed, however, before the justices on circuit. Is it possible that one reason why the name Barones Scaccarii was retained as the official title of the four justices who presided over the Court of Exchequer was the Crown’s wish to preserve the fiction that these official “barones” were really peers of the holders of "baronies"?