And forasmuch as the citizens, in all good fairs of England, were wont
to have among themselves keepers to hold the pleas touching the
citizens of the said city assembling at the said fairs: we will and
grant, as much as in us is, that the same citizens may have suchlike
keepers, to hold such pleas of their covenants, as of ancient time they
had, except the pleas of land and crown.
Birch, _Charters of City of London_, 55.
1298. To all stewards, bailiffs, and officers of the fair of St.
Botolph and other faithful of Christ to whom the present letters shall
come, Henry le Galeys, mayor of the city of London, as well as the
whole commune send greeting. Know ye that we have made and constituted
our beloved in Christ Elyas Russel, John de Armenters, William de Paris
and William de Mareys, our wardens and attorneys at the present fair of
St. Botolph, to demand and claim and exact all our citizens who are for
any cause arrested or impleaded in any of your courts, and for
executing full justice in all plaints against them according to the law
merchant, ratifying and holding good anything they or any one of them
may do in the premises, and in all other things which they or any one
of them shall deem to affect in any way the liberties of the city and
our citizens. In witness whereof we have set our common seal to these
presents.
London, Sunday the Feast of St. Margaret the Virgin, 26 Edward I.
Sharpe, _Cal. Letter Books of Corporation_, B. 219.