| Abetment | The aiding of a criminal in their illegal |
| enterprise. |
| Abjure the realm | Banishment. |
| Assize | A trial or court or the ordinance or |
| edict made there. |
| Bezant | A medieval gold coin. |
| Captus in Medio | Latin for ‘caught in the middle of.’ |
| Chancery | The medieval equivalent of administra |
| tive offices responsible for paperwork. |
| Chirographer | The officer appointed to produce a |
| legal document (chirographs) to collect |
| fines in the Court of Common Pleas. |
| Close Rolls | Records kept by the royal chancery |
| office. These were letters issued and |
| sealed by the monarch to grant special |
| rights, titles, grants to persons or |
| corporations. Each year, the chancery |
| would sew these parchments together |
| into one long roll as a record of that |
| year’s letters close. |
| Engross | To produce a legal document in its |
| final form. |
| Gaol Delivery | The trial of prisoners held in gaol upon |
| charges for which they were impris |
| oned. It is not delivering a prisoner to |
| the gaol, but rather ‘deliverance’ from |
| gaol, albeit to a trial. |
| Gyb | Common name for a cat in this period, |
| short for ‘Gilbert’ as one might call a |
| male cat ‘Tom’ today. The ‘g’ is a hard |
| g, as in ‘go’, the ‘y’ a short ‘i’ sound. |
| In Flagrante Delicto | Latin for in ‘blazing offense’ or caught |
| in the act of committing an offense. |
| | Sometimes referring to being caught |
| in the sexual act. |
| King’s Bench | A trial or presentation before the king, |
| following the king wherever he might |
| go in the realm. To cut down on the |
| many cases presented before the king, |
| the Court of Common Pleas was created |
| and stayed in one place rather than |
| having to follow the king’s itinerary. |
| That one place was Westminster Hall |
| and later also included the Guildhall |
| in London. |
| Letters Patent | A type of legal instrument issued by |
| a monarch to grant an office, right, or |
| other status. |
| Liripipe | The long tail at the back of a hood, |
| often wrapped around the wearer’s |
| shoulders and neck because it was so |
| long. |
| Mainprise | A surety of money, making certain a |
| man will appear in court. A bond. |
| Nisi Prius | Latin, meaning ‘unless first.’ A nisi |
| prius is a procedure to which a party |
| FIRST agrees UNLESS he objects. |
| Also a court of jurisdiction; the original |
| trial court that heard the case. |
| Outlaw | Outside the protection of the law. By |
| three times refusing to appear at one’s |
| trial, the suspect is declared an outlaw |
| and can be killed on sight or brought |
| back to gaol and executed without |
| further trial. |
| Oyer and Terminer | A commission that empowers justices |
| to ‘hear (oyer) and determine (terminer)’ |
| certain cases. |
| Quinzaine | Fifteen of something; people, stanzas, |
| days, weeks, etc. |
| Stew | Brothel. |
| Sennight | One week. Seven nights, or se’n nights. |
| Small Beer | Beer/ale with lower alcoholic content. |
| Trailbaston | Commissions of Oyer and Terminer |
| for violent cases, like murder. |
| Wain | A small cart. |