Note 787 — MAGNA CARTA. (continued 4)

Thus in 1166 (the year of the Assize of Clarendon) the “Soca” of Alverton was amerced because of a man placed “ad aquam sine serviente” (Pipe Roll, 12 Henry II., p. 49 of edition of Pipe Roll Society). In 1185 the “villata” of Preston paid 5 marks for putting a man “ad aquam sine waranto” (Pipe Roll, 31 Henry II., cited Madox, I. 547). In the same year a certain Roger owed half a mark for being present at an ordeal “sine visu servientum regis”: and heavy fines were exacted from those who had put a man “injuste ad aquam” (Ibid.). Apparently the bailiffs were sometimes described as the king’s serjeants and sometimes as the sheriff’s serjeants: the same Roll records fines for a man buried “sine visu servientum vicecomitis” and for a robber hanged “sine visu servientis regis” (Pipe Roll, 31 Henry II.).