Of criminals who flee immediately after a felony; and then how pursuit should be made after such men, some of whom are in frankpledge and some in another's mainpast.


We have spoken above of felony committed in public before many bystanders and
 onlookers,17 as in gatherings of some kind, 18and of those who are present and can
 be arrested. [Now we must speak of those] who19 flee immediately after a felony
 and cannot be arrested. Let the hue be raised at once against such men and let
 them be pursued from vill to vill until the malefactors are caught, for otherwise the
 entire township will be amerced. [Each district has its own procedure with respect
 to pursuit.] And let the hue be raised in the same way if one has died by misadventure,
 crushed or drowned, [or killed in some other way provided the slayer
 cannot be ascertained], but pursuit from estate to estate and from vill to vill is
 unnecessary in these cases, provided the hue is raised, since the malefactor is, so
 to speak, arrested.20 With respect to one who has thus taken to flight, careful
 inquiry must be made as to whether he is in frankpledge and tithing; [if he is], the
 tithing will be amerced before the justices for not producing the said malefactor
 for trial, even though he has been arrested by others before the eyre and committed
 to prison, since he was not arrested or produced by the tithing.

If he is not and  has been harbored in any vill without being in frankpledge, it will be amerced,
 unless the fugitive is one who ought not to be in tithing and frankpledge, as
 magnates or knights and their kinsmen, a clerk, a free man and the like, according
 to the custom of the district. Then he to whose household and mainpast the man
belongs will be held responsible and will answer for him,21 [unless local custom
provides otherwise, that he ought not to answer for his mainpast, 22<as in the county
 of Hereford, where one will not answer for his mainpast for any offence unless the malefactor has
 returned after the felony or he has harboured him after the offence, as [in the roll]
of the eyre of Martin of Pateshull in the county of Hereford in the fifth year of
 king Henry.>1 [According to the laws of king Edward,2 3archbishops, bishops,
 earls and barons, and all who have soke and sake, toll and team, and similar
 liberties ought to have their knights and their household servants, as stewards,
butlers, chamberlains, cooks and bakers, within their frankpledge, and these in
 turn their own squires and others serving them, so that if they have become liable
 to anyone their lords may produce them for trial, or if they do not, pay the forfeiture
 for them.]4 and for all others who are of his mainpast, for5 every man, whether
 free or bond, is or ought to be either in frankpledge or in mainpast, unless he is one
 who wanders from place to place, remaining no longer in one than in another, or
 has what suffices for frankpledge, a dignity or a religious order, a free tenement, or
 in a city, an immovable.

At the view of frankpledge.


 [Every [male] who has reached the age of twelve years must take an oath at the
 view of frankpledge that he does not intend to be a thief nor a party to thieving.6
 All who hold land and house, who are called �householders,� ought to be in frankpledge,
and also those who serve them, who are called �followers.�7 No one ought
 to dismiss his servant before he is cleared of every accusation, those with which he
 has previously been charged.]8 A man belongs to the mainpast and household of
him from whom he has food and clothing, or food only with wages, as in the case of
 hired household servants. He may also be called a member of another's household,
 according to ancient custom, who has lodged with another for three nights, because
 on the first night he can be described as �stranger,� on the second as �guest� and on
 the third as �one of the household.�9 And in conclusion note that one, as a �borg-holder,�10
 may receive another in frankpledge when he wishes and at his pleasure,
 but cannot extrude him from frankpledge when he pleases; nor, it is submitted, is
the converse true, for one who has put himself in the frankpledge of another,  or in a tithing, or in times past has followed [the hue] with the tithing, cannot withdraw himself at his pleasure.