The Sun.
London, England, 1818-10-06 00:00:00

PIE POWDER COURT,

On Wednesday the 30th tilt. according to an
ancient annual custom,. the Sheriffs of this city,
Messrs. fiAssiat, and Rocn, attended in the Old
Market,-, to open the Court of Pie Powder. As
nut,,y of our readers have, perhaps, never heard
of-the existence of such a Court, .and several
othe,rs,who,were aware of its baying taken into
fifilontle„ may suppose, fion► no public notice
havit.g been for years past taken of it, that. it is
entirely abolished., we chink it will be amusing.
to give,ra short description of it. The antiquity
of this Court is very grt;at,—,-it is of Saxoo ;origih,
and in all probability has been held on the same
spot (the,south side of. the Old Market), for cen-
turies past. It is held on the paveoient. facing
a house occupied for more. •than 100 years by a
Mr. Wethe%ell' and his family. Mr. Viretherell
has been present at the bidding or sixty-lour
Courts; hot it
,is, now 26 years since any cause
has been tried:• .The Siteriffs preside, with their•
steward, and a jury is summoned, as in our other
Courts of Law, when a cause is entered for trial.
It continues open for 14 days; and isregtilaily
'opened and adjourned each day by Proclamation.
'l•her•e is a projection before Mr. Wetherell's liout:
supported by pillars. 'Round these pillars sonic
ancient tapestry 'is nailed, and the only hiriiness
now transacted under this canopy, after the Court
is formally opened, is, that of its officers partaking
of toasted bread and cheese, soaked in met aeglin
and cider, for which porpose a table is spread with
plates, knives and forks, Ste. ; and the ft agments
which remain, are afterwards (Usti-Untied, with
much good humour, among the boys and girls, who
ate ,dinost the only spectators who now assen►ble
in this once popular Court. Its antiquity and the
uses to wl►ich it was' applied, may be gathered
frou► the following description of it in one of our
old law writers :

" Pin Pow DE R COL) hT.—.(Curia pedis pnlve-
thati) front the French pied, i. e. pes, and puu-
dieux, i. pulvertilentus—is a, Court held •(de
horn irc horam) in fairs, to administer justice to
buyers and sellers; and for redress of disorders
committed in them ; so called from the dusty feet
of the suitors ; or according to Sir Edward Coke,
because
,justice there is done as speedily as dust
can fall from the foot. Upon the same principle
that justice among the Jews was administered
he gates of the city, that the proceedings might
be more speedy as well as public.—Ruilt, chap. 4."
But the etymology given by a learned modern
writer is much more ingenious and satisfactory;
it being derived, according to Itim, from pied pal-
dreaux, a pedlar in old French, and therefore sig-
nifying the court of such petty chapmen as resort
to fairs and markets.—Harrington on the Statutes.
This Court among the Saxons was called cea—,
pung7gemot, i, e. a court for nierehanilize, or
handling matters of buying and selling. h is.
mentieued in Doctor and Student, c. 5 , which
tells us, it is a cont.( incident to fairs and nrarket.s,H
to be held only during the time that- the fairs-are.
kept.
The fair of St. Giles, held on the hill of that
name, near the city of kiiinchester, by. vizlue of
patent of Edwar.d IV. bath a Court of Pie
Powder of a transcendent. jurisdiction., .the lodges
whereof. are called ~Justices ,of the sPavilion, and
have their power from tire 13iollop of Wittchester.
(BriaorJottoul, Vet, 3 )