Among the chapters restoring order, the most important, with the exception of those recasting the machinery of administration, was that which ordered the destruction of the “adulterine” castles,[256] that is, the private strongholds built by barons without the licence of the Crown. These remained in 1217, as they had remained in 1154, a result of past civil war, and a menace to peace and good government in the future. It was the aim of every efficient ruler to abolish all fortified castles—practically impregnable in the thirteenth century when artillery was unknown—except those of the King, and to see that the royal castles were under command of “constables”[257] of approved loyalty. John had placed his own strongholds under creatures of his own, who, after his death, refused to give them up to his son’s Regent. The attempt to dislodge these soldiers of fortune, two years later, led to new disturbances in which the famous Falkes de Breauté played a leading part.[258] The destruction of “adulterine” castles and the resumption of royal ones were both necessary accompaniments of any real pacification. ----- Footnote 256: C. 47 of 1217. Footnote 257: See _infra_ under cc. 24 and 45. Footnote 258: Stubbs, _Const. Hist._, II. 32. ----- The re-issue of 1217 may also be regarded as bearing some analogy to a modern amending Statute. Experience, for example, had suggested the desirability of several alterations in the procedure for holding petty assizes. Many objections had been taken to the dispatch of Justices, with commissions to hold assizes in the various counties, so frequently as four times every year. It was now agreed to reduce these circuits from once a quarter to once a year—a concession to those who felt the burden of too frequent attendance.[259] Although the king’s Justices were still to enjoy the co-operation of knights from each county, it was no longer specially mentioned that these knights should be _elected_. All pleas of darrein presentment were removed from the jurisdiction of the Justices on circuit, and reserved for the consideration of “the Bench,” presumably now settled at Westminster.[260] The two other assizes (novel disseisin and mort d’ancestor) were still left to the king’s Justices in the respective counties where the lands lay, but difficult points of law were reserved for “the Bench.”[261] The inferiority of the Justices of Assize to the Courts at Westminster was thus made clear. ----- Footnote 259: C. 13 of 1217. Footnote 260: C. 15 of 1217. Footnote 261: C. 14 of 1217. -----