Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/316

 302 //. FROM THE llOO'S TO THE 1800'S officials " feriarum, civitatum, burgorum, et villarum merca- toriariarum ; " and any misdoings of these officials were to be pimished. If the mayor and sheriffs of London did not hold their court from day to day another judge was to be substi- tuted for them. In all pleas, except those of a capital nature, half the jury was to consist of foreign merchants. No future grant of liberties to any town was to derogate from the rights conferred upon the foreign merchants. The growth of the powers of Parliament in Edward III.*s reign gradually prevented the crown from obtaining sup- plies by separate negotiations with the alien merchants.^ But in his reign (1353)^ similar privileges and a larger measure of protection was secured to them by the Statute of the Staple. With a view to the better organization of foreign trade and the more convenient collection of the customs, certain towns, known as the Staple Towns, were set apart. ^ It was only in those towns that dealings could take place in the more important articles of commerce, such as wool, wool- fells, leather, lead, and tin. Eleven such towns were named for England, one for Wales, and four for Ireland.^ In each of these towns special courts were provided for the merchants who resorted thither. A mayor and two constables were to be chosen annually to hold the court of the Staple ; and the authorities of the town in which the Staple was held were ordered to be attendant upon them.^ They were to apply the Law Merchant, and not the common law. All manner of pleas concerning debt, covenant, and trespass fell within their jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the king's courts was excluded except in cases touching freehold or felony.^ The » Stubbs, C. H., ii 576. In 1362 and 1371 it was enacted that the mer- chants should not set any subsidy on wool without the consent of Parlia- ment. •27 Ed. III. St. 2. •The Staple system dates from Edward I.'s reign. After several changes it was consolidated by this statute (Stubbs, C. H. ii 447, 448). After the statute changes were made in the places where the Staple was held, Gross, Gild Merchant, i 141-143. To be a Staple town was a privilege highly prized; for as Coke says (4th Instit. 238) "riches followed the Staple." •27 Ed. III. St. 2 c. 1. »Caps viii and xxi. • 27 Ed. III. St. 2 c. V, vi, viii, and xxi.