Note 103 — Chapter I · PENAL METHODS OF THE MIDDLE AGES

In the reign of Henry III. the judges set forth every seven years.—Pike, Hist. Crime, p. 135; and see G. J. Turner, Pleas of the Forest, p. xv. By 13 Ed. I. assizes were to be held three times a year at most. In the early part of the nineteenth century the gaols in the provinces were delivered only twice a year. See Blackstone, Commentaries, bk. iv. chap. xix.; J. Stewart’s ed. p. 352. London, 1854. W. Crawford’s remarks in his Penitentiaries of the United States, p. 37. London, printed for the House of Commons, 1834.