Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/81

Rh Beer Alston, extensively worked in the thirteenth century, in the inheritance of the Ferrers family. The complaints of the abbey appear in the rolls of parliament, and are also to be seen in Dr. Oliver's Monasticon, p. 385. The lords of Beer (or Birland, as it was sometimes called) exchanged their ferraria or iron mines in Normandy for an inheritance of a more precious metal in Devon; but the known prerogative of the crown forbid them to enjoy either the silver, or the lead which contained it.

It is evident that litigation was encouraged in these local franchises for the benefit of the lord of the leet or hundred, who derived a considerable revenue from it. Every step taken, or default made, in the petty causes which formed the staple of their business, was an excuse for a fine or amercement, and the principal object of the lord was to extend his jurisdiction over as many suitors as possible. Hence the provisions in Magna Charta to limit the number and fix the time of the sittings of those courts on which attendance was compulsory.

Abbot John does not occur in the list of abbots in the Monasticon Exon.

The two last instruments are worth notice as proofs that the system of granting what are now called conventionary leases for long terms determinable on the lives of three members of a family, (a tenure which has often been noticed as a