These Courts, designated in the Latin tongue _curia pedis pulverizati_, in the Old French _pied puldreaux_, alike in each case, it is supposed, in reference to, or as typical of the dusty feet of the suitors. Some indeed say because “justice is there done as speedily as dust can fall from the feet.” But without reference to such fanciful derivations they may be spoken of as a rough-and-ready mode of administering justice at fairs, markets, &c. There is no record or ordinance by which any such Court was called into existence in this country. They came to us with fairs; they passed away with the decay of the commercial usages of fairs. Those curious in matters of archæology may consult a paper hereon by Dr. Pettingall, which appears in “Archæologia,” i. pp. 190-203. Barrington, in his “Observations on the Statutes,” observes that “In the Burrow Laws of Scotland, an alien merchant is called Piedpuldreaux, and likewise ane Farand-man, or a man who frequents fairs. The Court of Piepowder is, therefore, to determine disputes between those who resort to fairs and these kind of Pedlars who generally attend them. _Pied puldreaux_ in Old French signifies a Pedlar, who gets his livelihood by vending his goods where he can, without any certain or fixed residence.” In the “Regiam Majestatem,” 1609, there is the following: “Gif ane stranger merchand travelland throw the Realme, havand na land, nor residence, nor dwelling within the schirefdome, bot vaigand fra ane place to ane other, quha therefore is called Pied Puldreaux, or dustifute.” Hence then the Court of Pie Powder signifies in simple language a _Court of Pedlars_. Such Courts were held in the markets of the Romans, as they were in the markets of the Normans, and probably all through the old Roman Europe. But they had yet an earlier origin. Demosthenes makes it plain that all causes relating to the festival of Bacchus were heard on the spot. Fairs were associated with the Olympic games; and it seems clear descended from the festivities of the Greek Church. The necessity in all fairs of a tribunal which could promptly deal with the differences arising amongst a fleeting population were the same, quite irrespective of where the fair might chance to be held. Again the merchants attending the principal fairs of different countries were in a large degree the same. They travelled from country to country. What they found beneficial in one part of the globe was equally so in another, and hence became adopted as of course. The tribunals of commerce which once existed in England, and which still exist in various parts of Continental Europe, are analagous to the Courts of Piepowder held at fairs. In an account of a fair held in the northern region of Lapland as far back as two centuries ago (1681), a Court of Piepowder is recorded as one of its features.