The Manuscripts of the " Year Books"

ment of them is faulty. In Easter Term 17 Edward III., however, the Assise Roll corresponding to a report of a case deter mined by Justices of Assise at York, with out any adjournment into the Common Bench, has been discovered. The case is numbered 25 in the old editions of the Year Books, (fo. 28). It is an Assise of Novel Disseisin brought by one Geoffrey Cotes. As it is there printed it is really not intelligible, or, if intelligible, not in accordance with the facts, because a certificate, which the report does not even show to have been that of a Bishop, is there represented as having been produced in the action of Assise itself, whereas the Assise Roll clearly shows that it was a Bishop's certificate produced in a previous action in the Common Bench, the whole record of which was sent to the Justices of Assise. The Assise Roll also gives further particulars of importance. There are cases also in which it might be possible to correct a report by reference to Rolls of Justices of Gaol Delivery, or Rolls of Justices of Oyer and Terminer, acting under distinct commissions, even though they might by virtue of other commissions have acted as Justices of Assise. An Assise Roll was not so called because it contained all the proceedings at Assizes; and modern Assizes have nothing whatever to do with the pro ceedings of Justices of Assise in the oldest sense of the term, because actions of Assise have long been abolished, and had fallen into disuse long before an Act of Parliament put an end to them. The early Assise Rolls prop erly so called contain only the records of ac tions of Assise. Ignorance of this fact and of the nature of the Jurisdiction of the Jus tices in Eyre has led to great confusion in the classification of the records, which is a serious hindrance to students. In case of absolute need, however, the difficulties can be overcome, where the records exist, by those who know how to conduct the search. Cases now and then occur in the Year Books which were heard in the Chancer)',

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and these may be of very great importance — as for instance the scire facias to revoke a charter to the Burgesses of Wells in the six teenth year of Edward III. These again may be identified with corresponding records of the Chancery which, however, are suscep tible of a much better classification than they have yet received. There are also some Exchequer cases in the Year Books, apart from those of the reign of Edward I. with which the first volume of Year Books, published in 1678, commences. The latter are merely extracts from Remem brance Rolls of the Exchequer, and though they are in themselves of value, they can hardly be said to be in place in a volume of Year Books, when not associated with any reports. The Remembrance Rolls, however, both of the King's Remembrancer and of the Treasurer's Remembrancer are occasionally of service in illustration of reported cases, as, for instance, in the case relating to the farm of a fair to be recovered as in right of the King (Easter 14, Edward II., No. 54, and Introduction) with the questions of jurisdiction to which it gave rise. It is a common error to suppose that all matters relating to pleas in the Court or Exchequer are to be found in the Plea Rolls of the " Exchequer of Pleas." The gradual distribution of the Exchequer business among the various branches of the Court is in itself a difficult subject of very technical learning; but here, as everywhere else, the Year Books illustrate the records, and the records illustrate the Year Books. It is, of course, of the utmost importance to know in what capacity those persons are speaking whose speeches appear in the re ports. It is quite exceptional to find this noted in the Year Books themselves, Counsel and Judges being usually indistinguishable, so far as any definite statement or difference in writing is concerned. Here again the rec ords are our guides, though they do not show the names of the Judges who sat, or of the