Domesday Book

The record of the survey of England instituted by William the Conquerer and effected by inquests of local jurors. It was begun in 1085 and completed in 1086. It was primarily a fiscal survey — the liability for paying "gild" in the past and the liability for paying "geld" in the future were the chief points to be ascertained. It has been called "a great rate book." Incidentally it gives a marvelously detailed picture of the legal, social, and economic state of England, but a picture which, in ■ some respects, is not easily interpreted; Maitl. 2 Sel. Essays, Anglo-Amer. L. H. 76. It is preserved in two manuscript volumes; the second deals The first is a folio of 382 leaves; the second is a quarto volume of 450 leaves. It is probable that the second was compiled first; Round, Feud. Engl. 140. It was printed by royal command in 1783. A third volume, containing a general introduction and indexes, and a fourth, containing various documents supposed to be connected with the survey, were published in 1816. It early acquired the name of "Domesday." The Dialogus de Scaccario ascribes the name to the fact that the people were reminded by it of the Day of Judgment. Hales' theory (Domesday of St. Paul's XI) is that the name was derived from the fact that the inquisitions on which it was based were held on the "Domes-days," or law-days, of the various hundreds. "If English history is to be understood, the law of Domesday Book must be mastered. We have here an absolutely unique account of feudalism In two different stages of its growth, the more trustworthy, though the more puzzling, because it gives us particulars and not generalities." Maitland, Domesday and Beyond 3. It is not a collection of laws; nor a register of title; it is a "geld" book; id. For a partial bibliography, see 2 Sel. Essays, Anglo-Amer. L. H. 77. See Round, Feudal England; 11 Engl. Hist. Rev. 209 (Pollock); Ellis, General Introd. to Domesday; Ballard, Domesday.Boroughs; Ballard, Domesday Inquest; 2 Holdsworth, Hist. E. L. 118; 1 Soc. Engl. 236; Domesday Studies (papers read at the Domesday Commemoration, 1SS6); Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond. D0MESMEN (Sax.). An inferior kind of judges. Men appointed to doom (judge) in matters in controversy. Cowell. Suitors in a court of a manor in ancient demesne, who are judges there. Blount; Whishaw; Termes de la Ley. See Jury.

and its permanent location at Westminster. The holding of common pleas was, however, forbidden by the Articula super Chartas in 1290; and the Exchequer became a purely fiscal court, until it regained its jurisdiction by use of the fiction that the plaintiff was a debtor to the King. In modern times, there were two divisions of this court; the receipt, which managed the revenue and such matters, and the court or plea side, which had jurisdiction of all personal actions between subject and subject. The co^lrt had both an equity and a commonlaw side, until 1842, when the equity jurisdiction was transferred to Chancery. The Exchequer was the lowest of the three superior courts, and had four puisne barons and one chief baron. peal between the three superior courts of