Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE
- Preface
- Introduction
- Abbreviations
- CHAPTER I FAMILY AND ESTATES: History of the Shareshull family and of their landed estates, with special reference to the chief justice
- CHAPTER II PROFESSIONAL CAREER: Shareshull's elementary and legal education; his career as pleader and as judge; his appointments to common pleas, king's bench and exchequer, also to innumerable commissions, special and general
- CHAPTER III PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Shareshull's relations with the king on diplomatic missions and in parliament and council; his work on the private domains of the Black Prince
- CHAPTER IV LEGISLATION: Shareshull's part in framing ordinances and statutes, especially the legal and economic enactments of 1349-52
- CHAPTER V LAW ENFORCEMENT: Shareshull's policy of law enforcement, and of the imposition of huge financial penalties by means of commissions of oyer and terminer and of eyres, by the development of the justices of the peace and of the justices of labourers, and by a novel use of the king's bench
- CHAPTER VI STAFF AND EXPENSES: The enrolment and the preservation of proceedings before Shareshull; his group of trained clerks; arrangements for travelling and for transporting documents, for housing, food and clothing; annual stipends and daily fees
- CHAPTER VII SHARESHULL AND SHARDELOW: An account of the confusion between William Shareshull and his colleague John Shardelow; an attempt at disentangling them
- CHAPTER VIII LEGAL DOCTRINE:Shareshull's judicial pleadings and opinions: his legal thought in general, his learning, his doctrines of private law and of criminal law
- CHAPTER IX VINDICATION OF CHARACTER: Analysis of the charges against Shareshull and of the attitude of his contemporaries towards him; reasons for his retirement to a Franciscan convent
- CHAPTER X His PLACE IN HISTORY: An estimate of Shareshull's personality and of his significance for legal, economic and administrative history
- APPENDIXES
- NOTES
- List of statutes cited
- List of reports of cases cited
- Index
CHAPTER VI - STAFF AND EXPENSES: The enrolment and the preservation of proceedings before Shareshull; his group of trained clerks; arrangements for travelling and for transporting documents, for housing, food and clothing; annual stipends and daily fees
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- GENERAL EDITOR'S PREFACE
- Preface
- Introduction
- Abbreviations
- CHAPTER I FAMILY AND ESTATES: History of the Shareshull family and of their landed estates, with special reference to the chief justice
- CHAPTER II PROFESSIONAL CAREER: Shareshull's elementary and legal education; his career as pleader and as judge; his appointments to common pleas, king's bench and exchequer, also to innumerable commissions, special and general
- CHAPTER III PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Shareshull's relations with the king on diplomatic missions and in parliament and council; his work on the private domains of the Black Prince
- CHAPTER IV LEGISLATION: Shareshull's part in framing ordinances and statutes, especially the legal and economic enactments of 1349-52
- CHAPTER V LAW ENFORCEMENT: Shareshull's policy of law enforcement, and of the imposition of huge financial penalties by means of commissions of oyer and terminer and of eyres, by the development of the justices of the peace and of the justices of labourers, and by a novel use of the king's bench
- CHAPTER VI STAFF AND EXPENSES: The enrolment and the preservation of proceedings before Shareshull; his group of trained clerks; arrangements for travelling and for transporting documents, for housing, food and clothing; annual stipends and daily fees
- CHAPTER VII SHARESHULL AND SHARDELOW: An account of the confusion between William Shareshull and his colleague John Shardelow; an attempt at disentangling them
- CHAPTER VIII LEGAL DOCTRINE:Shareshull's judicial pleadings and opinions: his legal thought in general, his learning, his doctrines of private law and of criminal law
- CHAPTER IX VINDICATION OF CHARACTER: Analysis of the charges against Shareshull and of the attitude of his contemporaries towards him; reasons for his retirement to a Franciscan convent
- CHAPTER X His PLACE IN HISTORY: An estimate of Shareshull's personality and of his significance for legal, economic and administrative history
- APPENDIXES
- NOTES
- List of statutes cited
- List of reports of cases cited
- Index
Summary
Convincing testimony as to Shareshull's efficiency is afforded by the survival of many bulky rolls of proceedings before himself, and of proceedings for which he had had some measure of responsibility. Not less significant is the excellence of the form in which the majority of these rolls have been produced. In glancing through the innumerable records of the justices of assize one is sure to find ‘ Shareshull’ at the top or bottom of many membranes, especially if they are particularly beautifully written. Rolls of sessions of the peace or of labourers, like those of Devon where he himself probably acted or of Wiltshire where he delegated his duties to deputies, or of Cornwall or of Somerset, perhaps of Chester, where he had put pressure on the commissioners—all these are also noteworthy for fullness and for clarity.
An admirable example is a roll of thirty-four membranes, A.R. 1421, wrongly classified among rolls of assizes: mm. 1-8 contain proceedings in Wiltshire under the commission on suspects of 16 October 1336; mm. 9-34 proceedings in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire and Hampshire under a commission of oyer and terminer of 27 November 1334.’ The common denominator for the separate jurisdictions, areas, and dates is Shareshull, using the same clerk throughout—his own clerk apparently rather than the clerk of the court—and thereby producing an extraordinarily complete and interesting record. Shareshull's drastic oyer and terminer proceedings in Suffolk not only exist, many of them in their original form, but are also represented by an almost infinite number of cases enrolled coram Rege in Michaelmas and Hilary terms 1344 and 1345. The rolls of the famous eyre of North Wales in 1347-8, long in print under the title of The Record of Caernarvon are remarkable for their voluminousness and clearness. It is no surprise therefore to find Shareshull's name on the top of the membranes. Almost equally full and clear are his trailbaston. rolls of 1354-5 and 1358-9 inDevon and Cornwall. But even Shareshull has not been able to overcome the difficulties in the preservation of the records of special commissions of oyer and terminer and inquisitions.
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- The Place in Legal History of Sir William ShareshullChief Justice of the King's Bench 1350–1361, pp. 79 - 90Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013