Court-leet. [Coke says leet is a Saxon word, and comes from the verb gelathian, or gelethian (g being added euphoni' gratia), i.e., convenire, to assemble together, unde conventus, 4 Inst. 261. For other opinions as to the derivation of the word, see Lex Man. 131; Ritson on Courts-leet; and Scriv. On Copyholds.] This court is expressly kept up by s. 40 of the Sheriffs Act, 1887, though for all but formal purposes it has long since fallen into desuetude, and there is still an annual Court-leet of the Manor and Liberty of Savoy which meets at St. Clement Danes Vestry Hall, the High Steward of the Manor presiding, a jury being empannelled one month aftr Easter and serving for a year from that date, the court being held 'for the purpose of preventing small offences in the nature of a common nuisance,' and still having 'power to impose fines for certain offenes, such the stopping up of ways': Solicitor's Journal,Vol. 49, p. 493.
The Court-leet is a court of record appointed to be held once a year within a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, before the steward of the leet, being the King's Court granted by charter to the lords of those hundreds or manors. Its original intent was to view the frank pledges, that is, the freemen within the liberty who, according to the institution of Alfred, were all mutually pledged for the good behaviour of each other. It was anciently the custom to summon all the king's subjects, as they respectively grew to years of discretion and strength, to come to the Court-leet, and there take the oath of allegiance to theking. The other general business is to present by jury all crimes whatsoever tht happen within their jurisdiction; and not only to present, but also to punish all trivial misdemeanours, as all trivial debts were recover-able in the court-baron and county court, Steph. Com., Book VI., Ch. xiv. The lord was compellable to hold a court by mandamus, and a leet was forfeited by non user and by acts of abuser. By the (English) Law of Property Act,1922, s. 128, and the 12th sched. The jurisdiction of Courts-leet in certain matters, e.g., relating to worsk for the protection or benefit of any man or and registering any liability [under the (English) Land Charges Act, 1925] is transferred to the High Court.
The steward of a Court-leet is an essential officer, and should be indifferent between the lord and the law (see Powell onCourts-leet, p. 43), for he is the judge, and presides in the court wholly in a judicial character; the ministerial acts of the court,such as empanelling the jury, are executed by the bedel or bailiff, sworn to a due performance of his duty. The steward may fine or imprison, and may take a recognizance of the peace. The steward may not retain the profits, 1 Ja. 1, c. 5 (Ruff), he cannot appoint a deputy, unless he be so empowered in his patentor deed of appointment, or there exist an established custom for it. All fines are recoverable by action of debt or by distress. A fine is imposed by the court, but an amercement is generally the act of the jury; it must always be affeered in opencourt by two or more persons appointed by the steward and duly sworn, and is then recoverable by distress or action.
Bye-laws, embodied in the presentments and verdicts of the jury and homage, mabe good by custom.
In some manors, the jury of the Court-leet chose the mayor, port-reeve, or other chief municipal officer of the borough or town to which the leet jurisdiction was appended; but the (English) Muncipal Corporations Act,1883, reorganized all such boroughs as were left untouched by the (English) Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.
All offences cognizable in the leet are inquired of and presented by the suitors of the court, sworn and charged as a jury for that purpose; and all presentments may be removed, by certiorari, into the King's Bench and there traversed. Consult Scriven on Copyholds, 4th Edn., pp. 669 et seq.