Whenever a plea by writ of entry or writ of trespass is filed in the king's courts, jurisdiction over it should always be claimed for the city courts. Justice should be done in the city courts in such pleas so that no-one feels compelled to seek justice in external courts. Pleas held in the king's courts [at Westminster] result in citizens being burdened with labour and expenses through being summoned to serve on inquests and juries, hence the need to deal with those cases in the city courts. Costs involved in claiming the cases for the city courts are to be recouped from the parties to the plea, if they have the means; if not, the chamberlain will pay them from the community treasury.

[The royal charter of 1194 to Norwich exempted the citizens from the jurisdiction of external courts in pleas of tenure, except where the tenement involved was outside the city; pleas relating to real estate within the city were to be governed by city custom (which itself reflected Common Law). The charter of 1256 expanded this by granting that the citizens could not be obliged to answer in courts outside the city for any trespass committed inside the city, while that of Edward I (1305) was even more explicit in confirming that citizens not sue or be sued in any court outside the city for matters concerning internal tenure, trespass, or matters of contract, nor be summoned to sit on any assize, inquest or jury in an external court if the case concerned an internal tenure. The city's lawyers (or other representatives) were frequently travelling to Westminster to show one or other of these charters to the king's judges, in order to have cases transferred to the city court.]