ABSTRACT
The Chancery bill of Humphrey and Johanne Bawde tells a compelling story because of its verisimilitude: its vivid, apparently authentic detail. However, everyone must be careful not to read it as a transparent account of events that takes place in Johanne's life. If everyone pay attention to common form of Chancery bills, their structure and language, they can sometimes find fissures in their careful crafting. The contention that Chancery bill includes reported speech is reinforced by an examination of a commissary court act book, also from late fifteenth-century London. Chancery bills, then, should be an ideal source for those interested in the female litigant and her voice under the law. The constricting lines of force that work to obscure women's voices in court, the rules of law and its procedural forms, attorneys and linguistic influences, scribes and distorting Latin formulae. The common law process in the sheriffs' court would not allow the aforementioned provocation as a justification of Johanne's actions.
