Criminal Cases, Part 2

Sometimes the "punishment" was more of a restriction. Take the case of Thomas Welford, who sold salted herring. He had a ship docked at Queenshithe filled with salted herring. He was a wholesaler, and sold to retailers called "hucksters"; in this case he sold them 5 herrings for a penny.The hucksters would then sell 4 herrings for a penny,. Burt this did not give them very much profit. They complained to the mayor and aldermen that Welford's price was too high. Welford claimed that he could not afford to sell at a lower price.It turned out, however, that he had sold 600 herrings at the rate of 10 to a penny. The buyer, William Botild, was brought forward and admitted that he had paid that price. Welford was forced to sell 9 for a penny, so that the hucksters could then sell 5 for a penny and receive a decent profit. This was applied to all herring sales in the city of London at the time (1382).Speaking of fishmongers, five days after the previous case, the mayor and aldermen decided…