Sit the exchequer to whatever lawful man he wishes; this being done, when he is absent he is neither compelled to send a writ nor to excuse his absence. But where the sheriff excuses himself on account of infirmity, when they shall come to write his account in the yearly roll, it shall read: "William, sheriff of London; Robert, his son, for him, renders account for the farm of London." But if, by mandate of the king, another is substituted for him, or he with his own lips, as has been said, shall have designated to the president some one in his place, then m all respects it is to read as if he himself, in his own person, were sitting and rendering an account.
D. Is illness the sole sufficient excuse by which one who absents himself after having been summoned can be preserved from harm?
M. Far from it; for there are many at the exchequer; but this in trials, as well as in other ecclesiastical and judicial matters, is the most usual. Thou must, however, be mindful of the things that have been said, in order to understand that no excuse brings it about that the money of the king which has been collected from a county is detained with impunity in the sheriff's keeping, or is not, on the day named, sent to the exchequer. Having sent the money, therefore, he may be excused through illness as has been said. Likewise if his first-born son, whom he has declared to be his future heir, should be considered nigh unto death, he will be excused. Likewise if his wife have begun to be in danger with the pangs of child-birth, or for any other cause lie nigh unto death,—since she is a portion of his flesh, he can be excused. Likewise if his lord who is commonly called liege—that is, he to whom alone, by reason of his dominion, he is so bound that as against him he owes nothing to any one except alone the king—shall summon him to aid him, he being proceeded against in court for his own fief or for the greater part of it, or for any other reason which seems to redound to the detriment of that lord's standing or of his body,—he can be excused; provided, however, that that lord is not able further to do without him, or otherwise to avoid the litigation. But if that same lord have entered a suit against another in an affair of this kind, and
