Transcripts of 13c plea rolls, vital legal, social and economic detail of the time, presented with index and critical introduction.

This volume prints the full Latin text of the six large and well-preserved rolls of the Common Bench of Henry III for its sittings at Westminster in Michaelmas term 1249 and Hilary and Easter terms 1250. These were the first sittings of the court after the eyre circuits held between 1247 and 1249. Three of the rolls were made for the great justice Roger of Thirkleby. Also included are the cases found in the recently-identified fragments of the single surviving roll created in the Court Coram Rege, or King's Bench, during that period, for Michaelmas term 1249. The introduction records the composition of the two courts and the movements of the king and the justices during the periodcovered by the rolls. The entries themselves include the usual fascinating information about people and places, and deal with a wide variety of subjects.