" They then proceeded in the same
order through the Back Lane, in every part as it ran and through the
ancient path of the water bailiffs time out of mind and made the like
proclamation at the following places.... The Portreeve and free suitors
and others that attended them in their way noted every diversion and
nuisance that seemed to affect the Lake, and afterwards returned to
Tiverton and dined at the Vine Tavern, where they gave the following
charity children and other poor boys that attended them twopence
a-piece....
These duties are now performed by the Mayor and Corporation, but the
custom was observed in the traditional manner at least as late as 1830.
We have ascertained that not only did the Portreeve take the lead on
these occasions, but, like the Mayor and other members of the
Corporation, he was ex officio guardian of the poor of the town and
parish--a privilege which he shared with them alone. We have here,
therefore, an instance of dual authority lasting well into the
nineteenth century, or nearly six hundred years after London had purged
itself of the feudal element in its administration. To appreciate its
full significance we have to remember that there existed, side by side
with corporate towns, others which were not actually corporate, but were
known, nevertheless, as free boroughs or liberties, the reason being
that the owners of tenements in them held of the lord by burgage tenure
in the same way as the freemen of Liverpool held of the King, and that
there were manorial courts, which exempted the burgesses from the
jurisdiction of the Sheriff's Hundred Court, the Sheriff's County Court,
and even the higher courts of the Crown.
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