Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 5.djvu/388

372 372 BAR YARD LA W RE VIE W. proceeding was informal and without writ, if the damages pass forty shillings ; and then in 1354 (St. 28 Edw. III. c. 8) it was enacted that " the writ of attaint be granted without regard to the amount of damages, as well upon a bill of trespass as upon a writ of trespass." * Earlier than this, in 1347 (Pari. Rolls ii. 167, 23), the commons had petitioned for the attaint in writs of debt and all other writs and bills where the demand or damage amounted to forty shil- lings, but the answer came, " Let the old law stand till the King be better advised." At last, in 1360 (St. 34 Edw. III. c. 7), came full relief in a statute providing, "against the falsehood of jurors, that every man against whom they shall pass may have the attaint both in pleas real and personal." 2 Later in the fourteenth century the benefit of the attaint was extended in other ways, e. g., by giv- ing it to a reversioner when the life tenant had lost. (e) The attaint was now a general remedy, for litigants in the King's Courts, but it was found to be a very inadequate one. The next century is full of complaints, loud, bitter, and constant, of the wretched working of the jury and the attaint ; perjury, bribery, and ruinous delays are set forth as inducing the increase of the property qualifications of jurors, and imposing new penalties upon them. Two remarkable statutes, of 1433 and 1436 respectively, 3 must be noticed. The first recites mischief, damage, and disherison from "the usual perjury of jurors," increasing by reason of gifts made them by the parties to suits, so that the greater part of people who have to sue (quont a suer) let go ( lessent) their suits by reason of the said mischief and especially on account of the 1 A " bill " was merely an informal document. In the " Paston Letters " the word is constantly used for a letter; e.g., in No. 813 (1478) Sir John Paston 's mistress writes that she is in good health "at the making of this sympyll byll," and asks for an answer by " the brynger of my byll." So in 1440-1 (Y. B. 19 H. VI. 50, 7), Paston J : If a bill be good in substance it is enough; car un bill riad aucun forme. In 1315 (V. B. Edw. II. 277) a party had averred by Domesday Book, and a mandate was issued by Bereford, C. J., to the treasurer and barons of the exchequer, to certify as to the contents of Domesday. They would not certify, because the mandate was only un bille sealed with the seal of William de Bereford; whereupon the latter sent a writ {brief), and this brought an answer. Reeves, Hist. C. L. Finl. ed. ii. 97, note; ib. 99, note. •"• 2 The statute goes on: "And that the attaint be granted to the poor who shall affier that they have nothing wherefrom to pay therefor except their countenance, without payment {fine), and to all others by an easy payment." 8 St. 11 II. VI. c. 4, and St. 15 ib. c. 5. For the corresponding petitions in Parlia- ment and the answers, see Pari. Rolls, iv. 408, ib. 448 (47), and ib. 501 (26).