Series 1 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (Second volume)

INTRODUCTION
13
the Marshal and Constable. That this jurisdiction should
belong to the Constable, not the Steward, seems natural
when we find that the Constable in Scotland is responsible
for the guard of the King’s body and of his dwelling if he
lies in a fortress.
To the Scottish writer the Constable’s powers within the
verge seem to be part and parcel with the special concern he
has in the arrangements made for the keeping of the lists
when knights have been adjudged a trial by battle. But he
is, within the verge, as within the lists, only a president,
answerable for the attachments, for the prisoners, for the
keeping of order; his Court is ‘ affbrced ’ by the Steward,
Marshal, Pantler, Butler, Porter, and all the officers who can
conveniently come, with the other freemen who are in the
Court. Law and judgment are adjudged before him, not by
him. The whole communitas of the household seems to be
present to assist in deeming the doom, and if so, the Court
of the King’s Household is in this respect one with the shire
and the hundred and the borough. The English Steward
hears and determines, according to Fleta, but he, too, joins
with him Chamberlain, Usher, Marshal, Knights of the Hall,
or some of them, if all cannot attend.
The promptitude of the trial in the Court of the Household
is a point our writer dwells on ; it is a point which was made
much of in England. The ‘ Articuli super Cartas ’ direct that
a suit within the verge must be determined before the King
leaves the bounds of that verge where the trespass was done;
if not, the suit is to be dealt with by the common law. The
‘Articuli’ further lay down limits to the suits which the
Steward is competent to try. The Scottish writer is not prepared
with limitations, save that the trespass must be done within
the verge, and burgesses must have their special franchise.
(servants’ hall) is held, for a space of twelve leagues around {Rolls of Pari., ii.
336). There is reason to think that the league measured something less than
two English miles.—Schmid, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, App. xii.