Two of the chief justices were banished from the realm and their colleagues imprisoned and fined.

But these administrative measures were only preludes to a great legislative act which appeared in 1290.

The Third Statute of Westminster, or, to use the name by which it is more commonly known, the Statute "Quia Emptores," is one of those legislative efforts which mark the progress of a wide social revolution in the country at large.

The number of the greater barons was diminishing every day, while the number of the country gentry and of the more substantial yeomanry was increasing with the increase of the national wealth.

The increase showed itself in a growing desire to become proprietors of land.