" 3 Edward I., ch. 6. (1275.)
The same statute (ch. 18) provides further, that,"Forasmuch as the
common fine and amercement of the whole county in Eyre of the
justices for false judgments, or for other trespass, is unjustly
assessed by sheriff's and baretors in the shires, so that the sum is many
times increased, and the parcels otherwise assessed than they ought to
be, to the damage of the people, which be many times paid to the sheriffs
and baretors, which do not acquit the payers; it is provided, and the
king wills, that from henceforth such sums shall be assessed before
the justices in Eyre, afore their departure, by the oath of knights
and other honest men, upon all such as ought to pay; and the justices
shall cause the parcels to be put into their estreats, which shall be
delivered up unto the exchequer, and not the whole sum." St. 3 Edward I.,
ch. 18, (1275.) [27]
The following statute, passed in 1341, one hundred and twenty-five
years after Magna Carta, providing for the trial of peers of the realm,
and the king's ministers, contains a recognition of the principle of
Magna Carta, that the jury are to fix the sentence.
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