as the court had been called to order and the crier had said his little say, he arose and asked for a postponement of the trial, on the ground that he had just received a telegram announcing the sudden and fatal illness of his mother, who resided at Nantucket. Scarcely had the words of this appeal proceed ed from the lips of young Coffin when an elderly woman quietly arose in the balcony of the court room and gave utterance to these words, " Tim othy, Timothy, how many times have I chastised thee for lying 1 " Timothy recognized the sound of that voice only too well. It was that of his mother. This being Timothy's first public case, the old lady had secretly come up to New Bed ford to see how well her son would do. Her presence of course was totally unknown to him. Timothy Coffin in after years made sure that his excuses would not be thrown back at him by any member of his family. NEW LAW BOOKS. Select Pleas, Starrs, and other Records from the Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews. a.d. 1220-1284. Editedforthe Selden Society by /. M. Jiigg. London : Bernard Quaritch. 1902. (lxi + 134 + 167 pp.) This latest volume of the Selden Society, forming Volume XV. of its publications, con tains, besides the selections from the rolls, an extremely interesting introduction, of some fifty pages, treating of the political, legal, economic and social condition of the Jews in England during the thirteenth century; such an accurate and vivid picture does this introduction give that we shall quote from it at some length. "The origins of the English Jewry," says Mr. Rigg, " are wrapt in obscurity, and possibly date from a period considerably anterior to the Nor man Conquest. That event, however, certainly caused a large influx of Jews from the Continent, I who established themselves in force in London and Oxford during the reign of the Red King;" and in the early thirteenth century " there were probably few important towns in England where there was not a considerable and more or less wealthy Jewish community." By that time the Jews were " in the same category as treasure trove, a perquisite of the Crown." " Be it known," runs an early statute of Jewry " — part of the
so-called Laws of Edward, —" that all Jews, wheresoever they may be in the realm, are of right under the tutelage and protection of the King; nor is it lawful for any of them to subject himself to any wealthy person without the King's license. Jews and all their effects are the King's property; and if anyone withhold their money from them, let the King recover it as his own." Still, the condition of the Jews was not alto gether bad. " During the first period of their sojourn in England they seem to have enjoyed a comparative immunity from vexatious regula tions. They were as yet compelled to wear no distinctive were disarmed badge; nor was They it practised until 1181with thatsome they success as physicians, and plied the craft of the goldsmith. Probably other crafts were open to them On the other hand, the sphere of their trading operations was seriously restricted by the gilds merchant. They had not the full jus commercii; they could not go into the market and compete freely as vendors and purchasers. The readiest and most lucrative way in which they could employ their capital was, therefore, to lend it, and their operations received from a very early period the countenance and encour agement of the Crown. The privileges which they enjoyed were derived from a charter granted by Henry I. to a particular magnate, his family and dependents, which was confirmed to his posterity by Henry II. and Richard I. . . . and it was expressly extended to the entire com munity by John (10 April, 1201). "By virtue of this patent the Jews were free to travel and settle where they would, and to receive and purchase whatever might be brought to them, except things pertaining to the Church, and blood-stained cloth, throughout the length and breadth of England and Normandy; were authorized to sell their ' vadia,' or securities, after a year and a day's possession; were ex empted from tolls and customs, including the wine duty, and from all jurisdiction except that of the King himself, or his castellans; were en titled to be tried by their peers, to be sworn on the Pentateuch, and to certain other privileges. The charter prescribed that in all cases between Christian and Jew, the plaintiff should produce two witnesses, a Christian and a Jew. This was fair enough, for it was doubtless as hard for
