Page:The statutes of Wales (1908).djvu/79

Rh sown, and in August and September during the corn harvest. He adds that the Justices do not give enough time in hearing equity cases, and that many suitors are compelled to come before the Council of the Marches, which gives judgment more speedily and at less expense. Appeals in personal actions lay from the Courts of Great Sessions to the Council. Instances of the conflict of jurisdiction between the two bodies were not common, although there were many complaints in general terms of persons being drawn from remote parts of to attend the Council. But it is obvious that sessions held twice a year in each circuit for six days at a time were inadequate to deal with the mass of legal business arising out of the rapid economic changes which were taking place in.

The Council also exercised authority over the courts of the various boroughs within its jurisdiction. The sheriffs in were bound to execute all lawful commands of the Lord President and Council. Several letters referring to the nomination of sheriffs are extant in the Shrievalty Papers (Bundle 6) among the Bridgewater MSS. Some of these are lists of leading gentry, with notes as to their fitness for office, e.g., " John Vaughan of Glan y Llyn, Esq., very fitt for estate, not for his discretion, but his wife discreete."

From George Owen's Dialogue we gather that supervision of the sheriffs was highly necessary, owing to their practice of erecting new Hundred Courts for purposes of extortion. The Council, he says, had grievously fined sheriffs for keeping such courts, and in Brecknockshire the practice had been stopped.

A close connection may be traced between the Council of the Marches and the characteristic local official of Tudor times, the Justice of the Peace. Justices of the Peace were appointed by the Chancellor of England on the advice of the President, Council, and Justice of. The Lord President was expected to choose suitable persons,