ABSTRACT
Among the various courts mentioned by Fleta was that of the steward of the household, which was concerned with all actions against the peace of the king within the bounds of his household1. There had been a tendency for this household court to usurp the functions of the common law courts, and in the Articuli super cartas of 1301 pleas of debt, covenant, contract between common people were forbidden to be held there. The court was to confine itself to pleas of trespass within the household and within the verge, and those of contracts and covenants between members of the household2. The time limit within which such cases should be tried was defined. The case was to be pleaded and determined before the king's departure from the limits of that verge, otherwise the case was to come before the common law3. This definition of the sphere and functions of the steward's court was re-enacted in the parliament of Stamford in 13094 and formed one of the Ordinances of 13115.
