| Book Review | Law and History Review, 17.1

Book Review

Inquests and Indictments from Late Fourteenth Century Buckinghamshire,

This is a good and useful book, skillfully crafted by its editor. The core material consists of two Buckingham coroners' rolls covering the years 1373-1389 (PRO. JUST 2/13 and 2/14) and a roll of indictments prepared for a visitation by the King's Bench in 1389 (PRO. KB 9/5). To these basic materials the editor has added an extensive introduction, later King's Bench entries involving the same cases, and a tripartite index.

Publication of the two complete coroners' rolls is in itself a valuable contribution. Such works as Gross's (Charles Gross, ed., Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls [London, 1896]), while having their own special value, can never provide an accurate picture of the day-to-day tasks performed by a coroner. Moreover, the time span included in such works obscures how the coroner performed at a precise moment in time. Originally, for example, coroners recorded all appeals of felony; by the late fourteenth century appeals of felony were in desuetude. These rolls record no appeals other than those made by approvers. Such works as Green's (Thomas Green, Verdict According to Conscience [Chicago and London, 1985]) focus on cases of a specific type. Thus, the case of John Colles (103, 203) looks somewhat different when set among a series of accidental deaths and unprovoked homicides than when set among a series of similar self-defense cases in Green's book.

Buckingham was visited in 1389 by the King's Bench conducting an unusual "superior eyre." That visit required formation of presenting juries to prepare indictments. Indictments for homicide, of course, reported deaths upon which the coroners had previously held inquests. The existence, and now publication, of the coroners' rolls followed by the indictment roll provides an opportunity to view this important step in medieval criminal process.

The inclusion of the additional King's Bench materials, with extensive editorial cross-referencing, is also extraordinarily useful. It permits us to see a system that was at once extremely thorough and strangely inept. Once an indictment had issued, process against the accused was inexorable. John Dod, for example, pocketed tolls rather than repairing the road. He was indicted in 1389. Term after term he failed to appear; at each term a new order issued—for arrest, for distraint, etc. The care with which the prior records were combed for his defaults is apparent. But they produced no results; Dod never appeared and finally obtained a pardon in 1398. Pardons themselves provide another example. The records in this volume make quite clear that there was no system for cross-referencing granted pardons against judicial rolls. In a number of instances defendants who had obtained pardons years past were still being summoned to answer old charges. The pardon apparently did not come into judicial cognizance until its recipient exhibited it in court (pp. xxiii, 174-75).

For the core of the book, the coroners' rolls and the indictment roll, the editor has chosen to present only an English translation. While this system leaves the reader at the mercy of the translator, the editor has included the Latin within parentheses and/or added explanatory footnotes where these seemed necessary. In addition, the editor has included a section on Editorial Practice. These aids, taken together, reassure the reader that editorial practice is not inadvertently obscuring important matter.

The editor's introduction is entirely thorough. Its information about the court system, including the "superior eyre" of the King's Bench is clear. The explanation of the office of coroner, largely a synopsis of Hunnisett (Roy Hunnisett, The Medieval Coroner [Cambridge, 1961]) is useful as a ready reference although it adds nothing new. The explanation of the Statute of Cambridge is clear and is certainly necessary to understanding the many indictments against laborers and craftsmen for taking extra-statutory wages. The editor notes (p. xlvii) that, although the Statute of Cambridge forbade giving or taking extra-statutory wages, only takers were indicted in Buckingham. This raises a series of interesting questions the editor might have pursued—why were givers not indicted, at whose instance were indictments returned against those who were indicted, are the indicted persons the worst offenders or only unlucky ones? There is no exploration of any of these matters

The book includes three indices—Persons, Places, and Subjects. I tested the indices by checking from, for example, a person's name in the text into the Index of Persons. Likewise, I checked the indices by looking from the index to each page number cited for a particular entry. In every case, the index was accurate. Moreover, the indices are extensively cross-referenced to account for alternative spellings of personal and place names. These cross-references appear also to be accurate and complete.

Context is important to an accurate understanding of legal history. The publication of these rolls establishes context in several ways—individual cases among all cases, the coroner among other officials, the inquest-indictment-trial sequence. The ability to work within these contexts permits the reader to see more clearly the relationship among persons, events, and institutions in the medieval criminal process. The editor's good work makes this book more than a simple presentation of matter. Rather, the editor's skill makes the mass of information readily accessible.

Roger D. Groot

Washington and Lee University

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